LIHU‘E — Inside the first 2012 Kaua‘i Police Commission meeting Friday, a new commissioner was welcomed and board officers were restructured. Outside, members of Okevueha Native American Church protested a peyote seizure by police. Ernest Kanekoa Jr. and James O’Connor
LIHU‘E — Inside the first 2012 Kaua‘i Police Commission meeting Friday, a new commissioner was welcomed and board officers were restructured. Outside, members of Okevueha Native American Church protested a peyote seizure by police.
Ernest Kanekoa Jr. and James O’Connor officiated their first meeting as chair and vice chair, respectively, with members Charles lona, Alfredo Nebre Jr., Bradley Chiba, Randall Francisco and Donald Okami Sr.
As the only new member, Okami took the oath of office prior to the meeting. He begins a three-year term and replaces Thomas Iannucci. Okami is a former Marine, as was Iannucci, and brings experience to the commission as a past security manager for TSA and hotel security management.
Okami said he wanted to do his civic duty and that he would be a voice for the community. He said he is receptive to concerns and would present them to the commission.
“I want to be part of the solution and not the problem,” Okami said.
The commission voted to designate a member to appear before the Salary Commission to present testimony on issues related to the deferment and freeze of the chief and deputy chief’s salaries at its Feb. 1 meeting.
Kaua‘i Police Chief Darryl Perry explained that the freeze is a disincentive to line employees in the positions of lieutenant and below who are not experiencing the freeze. They are accumulating tenure and raises, he said, and an inversion is occurring. Officers could be asked to take a reduction in pay to accept promotions, he said, adding that there is also the potential for supervisors earning less than subordinates.
In the interest of future department leadership and not the present, Iona said it is time to revisit the salary structure and ensure a buffer exists between tier levels to ensure an appropriate salary structure.
There was more discussion on hiring practices and commissioners queried of the difficulty of filling positions.
Perry said that recruiting is a priority and that intensive background checks and screenings make it a challenge. Good candidates often take other offers as they wait a year or longer for a position. One solution is to hire good candidates early on to probationary jobs as a way to keep them until cleared for the academy, he added.
Okami had questions about police overtime, which he said reached $40,000 in December. He asked for background on scheduling and whether there is a system in place.
Perry said overtime is determined by circumstances, such as homicides or investigations. He said staffing restrictions are also a concern and that they try to reign in overtime through other resources, like the forfeiture of criminal assets to pay for training. He noted that detectives have a new three-shift schedule of 10 hours, four-day weeks so there is always one detective available.
“We are down to three detectives and that is 120 man hours being made up by the other detectives,” Perry said, adding that promotions are likely in a few months.
Assistant chief Roy Asher said the chief received a report following every pay period. He said December manpower hours were driven by a fatal shooting, special projects, stakeouts for burglaries and thefts.
Francisco said the department is doing a good job with the efficiency of an understaffed police force. He said that as training dollars were being questioned, officers were stepping up to meet the challenges that confront them when major crimes occur and should be applauded.
The commission released its decisions on complaints discussed following the previous meeting. All matters were found to have insufficient evidence to prove the allegations and were forwarded to Perry for further review.
The commission moved to executive session to discuss internal matters and complaints.
During the meeting, members of Oklevueha Native American Church of Kaua‘i gathered outside the conference room with signs protesting the seizure of peyote they say is used legally by permit for medicinal and ceremonial use.
KPD issued a press release a week following the Dec. 19 arrest of Shane Johnson, age 36, of Wailua for the first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, second degree commercial promotion of marijuana and three counts of drug paraphernalia. He was released pending an investigation.
The statement said police seized peyote in various forms but did not mention whether it was a violation of any existing rights to possess it for religious reasons. The amount of marijuana seized was said to exceed Johnson’s medicinal marijuana permit limit.
In the commission agenda, police noted the arrest as involving an investigation into the transportation and delivery of peyote cacti to a residence and resulting in a search warrant. During the search, police recovered peyote cacti and byproducts of dried cacti buttons, powder and processed marijuana.
Johnson is the vice president of the Native American Church and was present with the church president, chief Robert Pauole Pa, to speak to the commission in closed session.
Johnson argued the police violated their charter, recognized by the federal government. He said police ordered that no ceremonies are to be conducted until the investigation is complete, which is why it is a civil and human rights matter.
In other meeting business, the commission adopted its proposed rule changes relating to filing of charges as an amendment to Rule 6-1, subsection 1d of the Kaua‘i Police Commission Rules on Administrative Practice and Procedure. Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Winn addressed the rules process and the commission set its required public hearing for the March 23 meeting.
The next commission meeting is 9 a.m. on Feb. 24 at the Moikeha Building in meeting room 2A/2B.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or tlaventure@ thegardenisland.com..
