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'•.,�, �,P; COUNTY OF HAWAII
•'F o;•NP'. HILO, HAWAII
January 26, 1979
Hawaii County Charter Commission
c/o R. B. Legaspi
County Clerk
County of Hawaii
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Thank you for your letter of January 27, 1979, and this opportunity to
put in writing my testimony to the Hawaii County Charter Commission on
January 16, 1979.
We recommend three changes to the County Charter as follows:
1. Delete Section 7-2.5(c) which states that the Chief of Police shall
"take charge of and keep the County Jail and all prisoners committed
thereto. "
The jail function has been taken over by the State Correctional
System and no longer comes under the jurisdiction of the
County or the Chief of Police
2. Modify Section 7-2.2 to enlarge the Hawaii County Police Commission
from seven to nine members.
This change would foster greater public participation in the
police department, allow more flexibility in apportioning the
membership of the commission according to population, and would
make it easier to obtain a quorum at each police commission
meeting.
3. Delete Section 7-2.7 which places the Police Department under the
general supervision and control of the Mayor.
Section 7-2.5 of the Charter already provides that "The Chief
of Police shall be the administrative head of the police
department", Section 7-2.4 gives the Police Commission the
power to appoint and remove the Police Chief, and Section
7-2.3 gives the Police Commission the right of inquiry into
departmental matters. Section 7-2.7 is ambiguous in that it
appears to place the Police Department under another boss,
though we do not believe that the Charter is intended to permit
I M. NO.
cOMM. NO, <_. ---
A-
Hawaii County Charter Commission
January 26, 1979
Page 2
a Mayor to exercise "supervision and control " over crime investi-
gators, beat patrolmen or others in the department who need to
perform in animpartial and non-political manner. With the
deletion of Section 7-2.7, a Mayor and Council would retain
budgetary control over the police department and continue to
have the power to appoint and remove the individual police
commissioners. This deletion would more clearly define the
non-political nature of county law enforcement, yet would leave
intact the budgetary, appointive, and review powers so neces-
sary .for. control by the electorate.
Should you desire more information on these proposed changes, please contact
me and we will be happy to assist in any way that we can.
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HERBERT M. RICHARDS -
CHAIRMAN