• The Police Commission and the Council The Police Commission and the Council Police Commissioner – or maybe ex-Police Commissioner – Carol Furtado is feeling the wrath of the County Council. The Council has once again deferred a decision on
• The Police Commission and the Council
The Police Commission and the Council
Police Commissioner – or maybe ex-Police Commissioner – Carol Furtado is feeling the wrath of the County Council.
The Council has once again deferred a decision on having her serve a second term on the Police Commission.
The Police Commission, which controls the Kaua‘i Police Department, has become the focus of controversy through allegations of racial slurs in the recent past, and a bone of contention between the county administration and the council.
She is an appointee of Mayor Bryan Baptiste.
Furtado says she is technically back on the commission, but can’t perform any commission duties, or vote on commission issues.
“Maybe they want commissioners that are more pliable, that won’t challenge them,” Furtado told The Garden Island last week.
Apparently, some “new information” has come to light that has the Council in long-term stall on the issue. Or perhaps that’s just a nice way of telling Furtado she’s lost any power she might have had as a commissioner.
Councilwoman and former Kaua‘i mayor JoAnn Yukimura is the sole councilmember to push for a timely reappointment of Furtado to the Police Commission.
“We owe it to her to make a decision. I felt we owed her and the public a decision,” Yukimura said last week.
Furtado is doing the right thing in appealing to County Council Chair Kaipo Asing for a special meeting on the issue, as well as asking County Attorney Lani Nakazawa for advice on where she stands in this limbo-like situation.
We think it’s time for the Council to lay their cards on the table and let Furtado know exactly where she stands. This may be another case of stalling an issue until it dies or disappears from the media radar.
With the Police Commission in public focus for actions of a past-member, the last thing this body needed was more controversy.
It’s time to resolve this issue and get on with the more important work of the county with property tax reform boiling over on the front burner.
