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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-06-21 Police Commission MinutesHAWAI‘I POLICE COMMISSION REGULAR SESSION MINUTES JUNE 21, 2013 PUNA CONFERENCE ROOM HAWAI‘I COUNTY BUILDING, HILO, HAWAI‘I CALL TO ORDER Chair Victorine called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m. ROLL CALL Present: Leroy J. Victorine, Chair Carol R. Ignacio, Vice Chair John M. Bertsch, Commissioner Robert G. Gomes, Sr., Commissioner Keith T. Morioka, Commissioner T. Ka‘ili Pe‘a-Ferrari, Commissioner (arrived at 10:38 a.m.) Guy K. Schutte, Commissioner Excused: Kenneth T. Ono, Commissioner A quorum was present. Also Present: Harry Kubojiri, Police Chief Paul Ferreira, Deputy Chief Marshall Kanehailua, Assistant Chief Paul Kealoha, Assistant Chief Henry Tavares, Assistant Chief Lincoln Ashida, Corporation Counsel Josie Pelayo, Secretary APPROVAL OF AGENDA Vice Chair Ignacio moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Schutte seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS – None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES May 17, 2013, regular and executive sessions: Vice Chair Ignacio moved to approve the minutes. Commissioner Schutte seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Correspondence No. 2013-07: Invitation to the Hawai‘i State Law Enforcement Officials Association Conference August 28-29, 2013, on Oahu. Those interested in attending are to notify Ms. Pelayo. Vice Chair Ignacio moved to accept and file this correspondence. Commissioner Schutte seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 2 POLICE CHIEF’S REPORT ON DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES Including, but not limited to: Crime report by area, category, and trends: Assistant Chief Tavares reported that up to May 31, 2013, there were 7,694 serious crimes. The Area I and II Criminal Investigation Units investigated 1,903 cases. For the month of May 2013, the department received 7,864 calls for service – 2,289 related to criminal and traffic incidents and 5,575 for miscellaneous public assistance. For crime trends in May, in Hilo they recognized the crime trend of Toyota Tacoma trucks being stolen. Their Special Enforcement Unit is working on this, looking into where these trucks are going and what is happening to them. The unique thing about the Tacoma is that parts over a six-year period are interchangeable. In Kona, they have seen an increase in camping violations and complaints of homeless and juveniles in the Kailua area. Community Police Officers in Kona continue to make checks and continue enforcement of all criminal violations. Vice Chair Ignacio asked if there are more homeless or if the homeless are being more problematic. Assistant Chief Kealoha stated that they have seen an increase over the last couple of years. Of interest are individuals they call backpackers. They are not the typical homeless. They are done with college, are in transition, and are living out of a backpack. They see that as an increase combined with their typical homeless which remains constant. They also see that during the summer season, the homeless population goes down. Around September-October, when the weather starts getting colder on the mainland, homeless increases. The backpackers have added to the population. Commissioner Bertsch stated that it seems like the homeless backpackers tend to congregate in intersections panhandling with signs, looking for money. Assistant Kealoha stated that they are the same group he referred to; he sees the same thing. They look healthy, young, and do not have substance abuse or mental illness. They are pretty stable, but they are homeless and traveling. Commissioner Bertsch stated that on the Kona side, they will see the same faces in the same intersections. Probably in the past year, they have seen a whole new level of young individuals with signs such as, “Too cute to be broke.” There would be about six of them that congregate within a half mile radius at major intersections. Vice Chair Ignacio stated that they (human services) frequently get calls about this. Her job is to get people into services, homes, and jobs. Panhandling is illegal. She asked why the panhandlers are not being arrested. Assistant Chief Kealoha stated that the ordinance is very weak. Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 3 Vice Chair Ignacio stated that their experience is that these individuals do not want to be housed. They are not here for services or jobs. They are here to panhandle. Assistant Chief Kealoha stated that the good news about the backpackers is that they do not become permanent homeless. They move on; they do their tour. He further stated that when you Google homeless facilities, Kailua-Kona is on the top ten destination for the homeless because of services, weather, and marijuana availability. Commissioner Bertsch stated that they are seeing a lot of foreign nationals coming over and backpacking. A lot of the backpackers on our street corners do not appear to be U.S. citizens. Vice Chair Ignacio stated that these individuals are not the typical homeless, but the numbers are painted with the same brush, so the numbers are increasing in Kona when actually their statistics are showing that they are not as far off with housing. It would be good to call them backpackers, not homeless. Traffic report by area, category, and trends: Assistant Chief Kealoha reported that no traffic trends were identified island wide, but accidents in Hilo remain consistent. Enforcement in high traffic areas continue throughout the island. Effective July 16, Sergeant Troutman will be the new TEU sergeant in Kona. The west side TEU will fall under the supervision of Area II. Troutman will be a working supervisor, and this will create on-scene supervision. Previously, the supervisor was in Hilo. This will be better for West Hawai‘i. Personnel report on vacancies, recruitment, training, promotions, reallocations, severance from service, and work assignments: Assistant Chief Kanehailua reported having 43 sworn vacancies. Eighteen recruits will go on the road on July 16. They have 1 re-hire and 2 intergovernmental movements. That will leave them with 22 vacancies. Effective July 1, they will have 10 additional positions, 5 for Ka’u and 5 for Puna. They are nearing the end of the screening process for recruits. PO III positions – CPOs, SROs, and Vice will be filled effective July 16. The lieutenant’s exam was completed. They have 4 vacancies. The sergeant’s recruitment list has been depleted, and another test will be scheduled. Ka’u will get a third sergeant on July 16.For the last few years, they have lost about 5 recruits from each class. For civilian vacancies, dispatch interviews were completed, and write-ups were sent to the Chief for selection. Finance report of budget and expenditures: Assistant Chief Kanehailua reported being at 91.7% of budget. They have one more month. They project their salaries and wages account will be at 95%. The reason for the overtime is the payroll lag and the Chief allowing cashing out of comp time in the later part of the last fiscal Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 4 year. When they processed the overtime monies, it ran into July of this fiscal. Right now they are under budget in salary and overtime. Their CALEA lieutenant, Kenneth Bugado, was promoted to captain in the Office of Professional Standards. The new CALEA lieutenant is Kenneth Quiocho. They are on their three-year evaluation period for CALEA which started the day they received accreditation. It is now critical because they have to be compliant with all sections. Commendations of sworn and civilian employees: Chief Kubojiri reported have 15 commendations involving 20 personnel since the last commission meeting. Vice Chair Ignacio stated that she made a report to the department and commended the officers for their quick response. Chief Kubojiri stated that they have made pretty good strides in returning phone calls which has been a concern of the commission. Other Departmental Activities: Chief Kubojiri reported that last year they had 38 traffic fatalities. At this time they have 18 traffic fatalities compared to 14 at the same period last year. This is an increase of 28.6%. One factor they constantly look at is impaired driving. This year they had only one fatality that had only alcohol as a contributing factor. There was one for drugs. There were two with a combination of drugs and alcohol. They have DUI check points. They have units making checks at the beach parks and other areas for under age drinking. Enforcement is just one part of the solution. Everyone and every entity that has to do with impaired driving have been reaching out with education and treatment. These summer months, they have made more of a concerted effort to go to the beach parks and secluded areas where kids and others drink to do enforcement. Chief Kubojiri reported that they started up with the Aloha Training with Dr. Alameda. It will be mandatory for all employees, and the commissioners are welcomed to attend. Dr. Alameda does this on his own time. Chief Kubojiri reported that they completed their community satisfaction survey in May. An erroneous article was published regarding that. The information was taken from a prior survey and not the current survey. Chris Loos contacted that media and pointed out to them that the figures they gave were erroneous and was taken from a prior survey. He was approached by several people in the community who were astounded by the article, more so by the headline that public confidence has faltered. A correction was made in the paper, but that didn’t leave an impact on anybody. The erroneous report was in bold headline. Chair Victorine stated that the original article was on the front page. The correction was a nice article but in an interior page. Chief Kubojiri stated that once the information is out, it cannot be taken back, and if it is erroneous it makes it that much worse. Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 5 Commissioner Bertsch told the Chief that it’s frustrating because he (Chief) started this survey to garner anonymous information from the public. The frustrating part is when old information gets out that changes the way that the citizens perceives what the department is doing. He questioned how the media was made aware and available to the old data when in fact, he assumed, they did an announcement and provided the new data. He is looking to make sure they don’t end up in this same predicament in the future. Chief Kubojiri stated that he believes all their information, including the results of past surveys, can be accessed through their website. In this day with the availability of information accessed through the internet or electronic media, it leaves him to wonder how it went from research to print without someone double checking the accuracy of the information. The whole reason behind the community survey is to get a feel on how they can improve as a police department by garnering comments and input from the community.It’s like their report card. Oftentimes, it is hard to gauge how well they are doing vs. what the public’s perception is of what they are doing. There are issues that come up in these surveys that they have turned around and identified specific training areas. One was the telephone messaging. Another had to do with attitude and rudeness of officers. They want to put it out and identify and address the issues. Commissioner Bertsch stated that the results affect pride and morale within the department. Vice Chair Ignacio stated that she attended a workshop on social media. From that meeting, she found that the person or organization needs to tell the story because once you let somebody else tell your story, you are in trouble. She wondered if they could have strategically made a big thing of giving out the results vs. the media doing it. Commissioner Bertsch stated that many police officers come from very humble backgrounds. They are not necessarily politicians or showmen, so when police commissioners say, “Let’s have a big press release and have a big hoopla,” that’s not their thinking. Their thinking is to get the facts out, get it to media, and hope that the facts speak for themselves, and the media deals with it accordingly. He asked Chief Kubojiri to tell them about the accurate survey. Chief Kubojiri stated that contrary to the first article, the numbers indicate that the public still has confidence in the police department. As soon as the survey was done and completed, they made a press release on line on their website. The media is a powerful tool. They have been working, going on five years, to have quarterly meetings with the members of the media. They try to iron out problems of communication and try to understand each other’s roles and what their expectations are. They want better understanding of both sides. Their goal is to be as transparent as legally possible and get information out to the public. The electronic survey was done by a third party. It was posted on their website. His staff is Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 6 reviewing the results of the survey. They are trying to categorize the different comments, suggestions, or criticisms.When they are done with the analysis, he will post them with his response. Recess was called at 10:10 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 10:26 a.m. EXECUTIVE SESSION Commissioner Schutte moved to meet in executive session to consider discipline and charges against officers or employees of the Hawai‘i Police Department, to consider sensitive matters relating to public safety, and to consult with Corporation Counsel on questions and issues pertaining to the commission's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities pursuant to HRS 92-5 (a) (2) (4) (6) and the Hawai‘i County Charter Section 13-20 (b). Vice Chair Ignacio seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. Executive session convened at 10:27 p.m. Regular session reconvened at 1:21 p.m. INVESTIGATION AND DELIBERATION OF COMPLAINTS HPC 13-10: Complainant alleged that the manner in which officers logged evidence was not right. COMPLAINANT TIMOTHY SNEDEKER came before the commission. He stated that he was a witness in this incident. When this happened, he took multiple pictures so he could present it to the officers as evidence. He showed the photos to the officer. The officer wanted the camera, but it was not his camera, so he gave him the sim card. He is a suspect in the case. The officer logged the memory card as evidence. The officer said it is a connect-up report. The memory card was not logged properly. It should have been logged under the terroristic case, but the officer wouldn’t do it. If it is not logged correctly, the prosecutor cannot refer to it.Officer Arnold took the evidence. He never questioned him about the TRO violation. Officer Brodie gave him a hard time with the memory card. His complaint is against Officer Arnold because he logged the evidence against this case number. He wanted them to log the sim card appropriately. The connect-up reports were not explained to him. Commissioner Bertsch explained the connect-up reports to Mr. Snedeker. He read excerpts of Police Report C13005842 “Connect-Up Reports” and explained the master report and the connect-up reports. Mr. Snedeker stated that the evidence does not justify the TRO violation charge. There is no reason for the memory card to be logged under this number. SHELLEY STEVENS came before the commission to speak on Complaint HPC 12-47. She stated that the police department has to obey the laws of the land. The county is not following the law. Regarding Ms. Morgan as a trespasser, criminal trespassing Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 7 doesn’t apply to kuleana lands or native tenants. Through CALEA accreditation and aloha training, they could avoid further situations like this by actually knowing what the constitutional rights are of the native Hawaiians. ACTION BY THE COMMISSION Correspondence No. 2013-06: Request for Legal Counsel for Mahuna, Kubojiri, Thomas, Makua, Fuiava, Itliong and Stewart in CV 13 0046 JMS/KSC, Andrews and Rohr vs. Hawai‘i County.Commissioner Schutte moved to approve legal counsel for the named officers. Commissioners Bertsch seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. Complaints: HPC 12-47: Complainant alleged that when officers executed a writ of possession and ejection, they caused her bodily injury and emotional distress. She also complained about her treatment following her arrest. Commissioner Schutte moved that there was insufficient evidence to prove the complainant’s allegations of misconduct. Vice Chair Ignacio seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. HPC 13-12: Complainant alleged that while being issued a traffic citation, the officer would not allow him to go to the restroom until he was finished issuing the citation. Commissioner Bertsch moved that there was insufficient evidence to prove the complainant’s allegations of misconduct.There was no second, and the motion died. Vice Chair Ignacio moved to refer the complaint to the Police Chief for an investigation by the Officer of Professional Standards. Commissioner Schutte seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. HPC 13-13: Complainant was involved in a dispute with neighbors. He alleged that an officer told him to shut his mouth or he would be arrested. Commissioner Bertsch moved that there was insufficient evidence to prove the complainant’s allegations of misconduct. Commissioner Schutte seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. HPC 13-15: Complainant alleged that an officer did not correctly explain the waiver of prosecution, and that they would not have signed it if he did. Vice Chair Ignacio moved that there was insufficient evidence to prove the complainant’s allegations of misconduct. Commissioner Gomes seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. HPC 13-18: Complainant alleged that an officer told him to stay away from his neighbor. He stated that he did not have contact with the neighbor. Commissioner Gomes moved that there was insufficient evidence to prove the complainant’s allegation of misconduct. Commissioner Morioka seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. Hawai‘i Police Commission Regular Session Minutes June 21, 2013 Page 8 HPC 13-20: Complainant alleged that he was falsely arrested for DUI. He also alleged that being made to do a breathalyzer test after he passed the field sobriety test was harassment. Commissioner Bertsch moved to refer the complaint to the Police Chief for an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards. Commissioner Pe‘a-Ferrari seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. Commissioner Bertsch moved to reconsider the complaint. Commissioner Schutte seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. Commissioner Bertsch moved to refer the complaint to the Police Chief for customer service and procedural concerns as noted in the complaint. Commissioner Morioka seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. HPC 13-26: Complainant alleged that an officer’s manner when questioning her was maltreatment. Commissioner Bertsch moved to refer the complaint to the Police Chief for an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards. Commissioner Pe‘a-Ferrari seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Victorine announced that the Police Commission’s next monthly meeting would be on July 19, 2013, at 9:00 a.m., at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Building G Conference Room, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Collection of files and documents. – Done. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: JOSIE PELAYO, SECRETARY APPROVED BY: LEROY J. VICTORINE CHAIR