HomeMy WebLinkAboutPolice Dept, FY 2014-15 DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET REVIEWS li
4/8/2014
DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET REVIEWS 2014-15
POLICE DEPARTMENT
April 8, 2014
Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
Page 1
There being no objections, the Committee was called back to order at 1:31 p.m., and
proceeded as follows:
Kaua`i Police Department
Honorable Mason K. Chock, Sr.
Honorable Gary L. Hooser
Honorable Ross Kagawa
Honorable Mel Rapozo
Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura (present at 1:57p.m.)
Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair
Excused: Honorable Tim Bynum
Chair Furfaro: Good afternoon I am calling back our budget
meeting that was recessed for lunch today. Chief I am going to suspend the rules and give
you the floor. I believe your plan is to give us a general overview then cover administration
and tactical then the investigative service bureau and then patrol. Did I get that in the
right order?
There being no objections, the rules were suspended.
Chief Perry: Yes you did.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, if you want to make any amendments to
that order we can do that now. However you want go right ahead.
Chief Perry: Aloha Chair Furfaro, Vice Chair Chock, and
Councilmembers. My name is Darryl Perry, Chief of Police for the County of Kaua`i and
with me our Deputy Chief Michael Contrades and soon to be up here Fiscal Officer Ms.
Daurice Arruda. I would like to thank Council for giving me an opportunity to present our
2014-2015 budget for the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD). Given the conditions of our
fiscal challenges KPD has collaborated with the Mayor's Office to implement cost cutting
measures while continuing to provide the highest level of service as possible. In
preparation for this year's budget as we did last year we have focused our attention on a
three year average expenditures while taking into consideration the recent collective
bargaining agreements that impacted salaries and benefits. This process which was
advanced and supported by the Mayor's budget team allowed for comprehensive factual
analyses of expenditures. This process paved the way so that 1) our budget is consistent
with our actual expenditures closer to the reality of our needs a lined with our mission
statement in sync with the economic climate while encouraging frugality without
compromising employee's safety and service delivery, and the final component is to hold the
department fiscally accountable to our community. Throughout the presentation we will
explain our commitment in assisting Council and the Administration for the long term
sustain budget by limiting expenses as best we can identifying treats and opportunities
with the understanding that there are growth limits and to initiate a long term strategic
plan to protect the future of our island home because we understand that public safety is a
shared responsibility. Up above we have the opening of our PowerPoint presentation and I
would like to shamelessly announce that the KPAL program is a crime prevention program
and we are accepting donations for a new facility out in Lihu`e. If you would like to donate
Sergeant Mark Ozaki is back here and all you have to do is contact KPD.
April 8, 2014
Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
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I would like to start off with our mission statement and spend a little bit longer on
our mission statement then we normally do and the reason why we do that is because I am
often asked how was this mission statement crafted or how did we come about getting such
a mission statement and the reason why we have the mission is to of course to give
direction to the Kaua`i Police Department. It starts off with the Aloha Spirit. We know
that is in HRS 5-7.5 and it talks about kindness, unity, being agreeable, humility, patience,
and these are traits of character that express their charm, warmth, and sincerity of Kaua`i's
people. It was the work and philosophy of native Hawaiians and was presented as a gift to
the people of Hawaii, and that is what KPD is about. It is about providing services and
getting these services as a gift to the people of Kaua`i and Niihau, so with that we embrace
the values of pono and the best definition I got and there are others out there but pono
means that your relationship with others are just and fair and untinged by anger jealousy,
resentment, or any negative energy. You are in harmony and your essence is integrity. So
within our value systems we have the values of respect integrity and professionalism and
we do this all to enhance the quality of life in our community and provide the best service
and committed to providing the most excellent service possible through team work.
The other part of our mission statement and the direction we take is our vision
statement. This is critical to our community. Having our community feel freely from the
fear of crime and we do that by providing again the highest level of professional services.
As you know any organization starts with leadership. You have to get the right people in
the right position and this is part of our plan succession planning. Currently we are in a
promotional process. We are looking at promoting our two captains, three lieutenants, and
about seven to eight sergeants. So we have succession planning in place and because we
look at the numbers we have a total of sixteen sworn officers including high ranking officers
that are eligible for retirement and this doesn't only apply to the sworn personal it also
applies to our civilian staff.
Part of the succession planning deals with our training and education. We want to
make sure that we are in alignment with our mission statement which talks about
professionalism and through that we provide the highest amount of training possible and
also included in there is higher education. We had annual recall training and certifications
those requirements that includes firearms, sexual harassment, hostage negotiation,
electronic evidence recovery, child passenger safety technician, and defensive tactics.
Michael Contrades: Good afternoon Chair Furfaro, Vice Chair Chock
and Members of the Council. Chief and I are going to take turns here and there going over
the slides. This particular one is mine so if I may...these are our 2013-2014 goals and
objectives and so we wanted to give an update on where we are in terms of those goals. The
first goal is an increase in traffic enforcement statistics over the 2012 statistics by ten
percent and this is an effort to make our roadways safer. Presently we have increased our
efforts by nineteen percent from this time last year and so we anticipate hundred percent
completions in this area.
Another goal that we had was to fill all 2012 vacancies both sworn and civilians by
the end of 2013 but we fell a little short but we are close. We filled twenty-three of the
thirty positions and so we completed seventy-seven percent of that goal.
Another goal that we had was to conduct eight community outreach meetings
concerning internet crimes and we successfully completing that goal by doing six cyber
bulling presentations along with three cyber safety classes.
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Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
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Another goal that we had but unfortunately we abandoned was the purchase and
sighting of a modular building exclusively for departmental training. Due to the cost and
the time it would take to I guess go through the procurement process and purchase the
building and place it we decided to pursue other avenues and we are looking at a more long
term plan in terms of a training facility.
The last goal was to conduct eight to ten active shooting training and outreach
programs within the department of education and we did eight active shooter presentations
for DOE staff and so we completed that goal as well.
Chief Perry: For 2014-2015 goals we continued to focus on our
recruitment process. The difference with this one ... we have tried in the pass but we really
focused on getting qualified female candidates and I'm happy to report we had five but
currently we have four in the next recruit class that will start on May 5th. We also continue
to reach out into our communities to make sure that we provide them as much information
in crime prevention areas. Recently I have gone out along with the Police Commissioners
to speak to our seniors in Kekaha, Waimea, Hanapepe, and we are waiting for the North
Shore side but even in Kapa'a we have gone out there. We talk about how not to become a
victim and precautions to take particularly in area of cyber crime. We continue to work on
our drug trafficking enforcement actions and for this coming fiscal year again we look at
shutting down two major drug trafficking organizations but as you know as long as there is
a profit out there it will continue to have traffickers to make a profit so we are looking at
two major drug trafficking organizations and we working with the high intensity drug
trafficking area federally funded program to accomplish that goal. We have it at five
percent but I'm changing the numbers too two reducing a fatality by two. Last year we had
seven and actually we want zero but that is almost impossible but we are increasing our
traffic enforcement efforts driving under the influence, reckless and distracted driving, seat
belts, and child restraints.
We also included in our 2014-15 goals after speaking with Chair Furfaro about
developing a strategic plan so we are working towards that goal and looking at picking up
an outside vender to assist us and again every organization should have long term goals so
you know exactly where you going.
Mr. Contrades: KPD has many successes this pass year. The
three that we wanted to highlight was the hiring and training of twenty-three new Police
Officers presently assign to the Patrol Services Bureau. This has been a tremendous help
for us in the reduction of over time expenditures that are caused by the need to cancel
officer's days off to cover basic services.
Another major success for us and I wanted to thank Officer Stacy Perreira again as
well as our fiscal ... our finance people Ann Wooton especially for assisting us with this
grand but getting this seven hundred and fifty thousand dollar department of justice grand
was tremendous for us and will allow us to create an additional beat which has not occurred
in our department for over twenty-five years.
Also I just wanted to touch upon accreditation. We continue to move forward. We
are in the process of revamping all of our policies. They are actually all written it is just a
matter of working together with the unions to go through and make sure the policies are
proper and just and we are currently going through that process.
April 8, 2014
Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
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Chief Perry: Like every law enforcement organization we
continue to be challenged by expending responsibilities and the changes in the law increase
calls for services. Increases in crime against property, person, particularly violent crime
while keeping within the fiscal constraints and another addition that we are facing right
now challenge is the changes in the law concerning fire arms and the challenges in
individuals who believe that they have the right by the second amendment to carry a
concealed weapon. That is currently being challenged in the 9th circuit court so we are
waiting the decision. But just for the public's record in the last ten years we have had
nineteen thousand, one hundred and sixteen fire arms registered on the island of Kaua`i
and a three hundred fifty-five percent increase from the year 2000-2013. This will impact
our officers and the way they do business concerning officer's safety and another startling
information that I received concerning the number of and I don't mean this in a bad way
because it really...it is just the way human nature is but in the general population there is
anywhere between one to three percent of psycho paths and sociopaths and these
individuals fail to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors. They also have
a reckless disregard for safety of others. They lack remorse as indicated in being
indifferent or to rationalize having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another. When you look
at the population of Kaua`i we are looking at about two thousand psycho and socio paths
here on Kaua`i, so with the implementation of the new possible new law where people
carrying weapons and with the numbers it concerns me very much about officer's safety. So
those are some of the challenges that we are facing today and moving onward.
In terms of our budget I'm going to present a budget overview but the Kaua`i Police
Department has two funds, the operational general fund and criminal asset fund. KPD's
general fund proposed operating budget comparison to the prior year's budget has
minimum changes. KPD's operating budget is roughly eighty-nine percent salaries,
overtime and fringe benefits with a balance of eleven percent for all other expenditures.
KPD's budget comparison for fiscal year 2014-2015 there is a net increase of seven point
five percent or one million nine hundred eighty-nine thousand dollars and three hundred
seventy-five thousand dollars. The net increases due to the collective bargaining pay
increases for units three four twelve and thirteen. Members in those units one million nine
hundred and sixteen thousand dollars is going towards that collective bargaining increases
and the difference between that two is what we are asking in terms of eight patrol vehicles
to alleviate our aging fleet.
Criminal asset fund budget the criminal asset for (inaudible) fund is a program
through the department of justice asset forfeiture program and this is where we take
proceeds from those who commit certain types of crimes. In this particular budget we are
asking to spend ninety-one thousand three hundred fifty-six dollars to pay for salaries and
fringe in terms of our cop's grant as well as six thousand dollars in equipment and so this is
going to be part of our matching funds towards the Cop's Grant and we would like to pay
this through our asset forfeiture account.
Current vacancies in the Police Department right now we have a total of twelve, two
captains, one lieutenant, five sergeants, and four officers and this doesn't include the six
new positions for the Cops Grant. Currently we are going through our promotional
interviews. We just concluded doing the Captains interviews. Next week will be the
sergeants and the lieutenants and our new recruit class will start May 5th and it will be the
eighty-fifth with ten new officers and our goal is to start the eighty- sixth recruit class in
November. If all goes well and we don't have any more retirements or officers leaving we
hope to be totally staffed.
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Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
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Chair Furfaro: Mr. Hooser had a question. I was looking at the
slide sorry Gary, go head.
Mr. Hooser: I didn't mean to interrupt you but since you are
on this slide, the four officer vacancies now is that correct.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Hooser: Okay and we are bringing in six new positions as
part of the Cop's Grant.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Hooser: So those six positions, we are not filling the four
officer vacancies we still retain the four officer vacancies?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Hooser: Okay so...
Mr. Contrades: So right now there is currently four existing
officer positions that need to be filled.
Mr. Hooser: So in the creation of new positions ... I am just
trying to get clear on it. Why didn't we just create two new positions and fill the six?
Because you need all ten is that?
Mr. Contrades: Yes the six is in order for us to create a new beat
those six positions that came from the Cop's Grant we need that to initiate that eleventh
beat. So this is in addition to.
Mr. Hooser: Okay, thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair can I ask only because I want to make
sure I understand this right. So the four plus the six would be ten and you have to replace
five sergeants that's fifteen so you will have eighteen vacancies at the end of the day.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: And you anticipate your next class to be ...
Mr. Contrades: Ten and the following we hope ...
Mr. Rapozo: Make up the rest.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you.
Mr. Hooser: One more if I could ... so that's you said
eighteen? Eighteen fully funded positions?
Mr. Contrades: If you Cop's Grant...
April 8, 2014
Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
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Mr. Hooser: Yes.
Mr. Contrades: The Cop's Grant is funded the first year by the
ninety-one thousand dollars from our asset forfeiture and the Cop's Grant it's self.
Mr. Hooser: And the other positions are all fully funded also.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Hooser: And you expect to fill those in the next twelve
months?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Hooser: Thank you.
Mr. Contrades: Civilian vacancies right now we have nineteen.
Ten full time and nine part-time. Currently we have a public safety worker position that is
open. We are in the process of converting that to a secretary position. We have one police
record supervisor position open and we are working on updating the position description for
that. We have an open weapons Registration Clerk in which we have a eighty-nine day hire
helping us to take care of that situation right now of registering weapons one Clerk Position
in records that we are currently going through recruitment. We have a program support
tech one position and we are in the process of updating that position description. Five
Dispatchers and we are currently recruiting for those positions and the nine school crossing
guards. The nine school crossing guards are the part-time positions...very difficult to fill.
Not many people want to work an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon but we
have done our best to try to solicit people to help us with that. We put out press releases,
we went to the DOE to see if anybody wanted a part-time pre-shift pos-shift type of job but
we continue to have difficulty filling those positions.
So in combined we are authorized two hundred and twenty-one positions fifteen
part-time positions and we currently have thirty-one vacancies nine of them being part-
time which again is the School Crossing Guards.
The one priority funding request that we have for this year is eight marked patrol
vehicles. Presently our patrol services bureau operates sixteen two thousand and five and
two thousand seven model vehicles. So of them have light to heavy rust repeatedly sent to
the repair shop to be repaired. Normally the live of a patrol vehicle is roughly seven to
eight years and the mileages go from eighty thousand to hundred thousand. However
unlike most normal vehicles these vehicles stay idle for long periods of time we keep the
engine running when you are out on traffic scenes or construction zones that types of stuff
and so of course the older the model of the car the more potential risk of an accident and
potential injury due to mechanical failure.
I know this topic is something we are always questioned about and so I wanted to
give an over view of our over time, talk a little bit about the challenges we have as well as
discuss some of the things we have done to try and reduce and mitigate the overtime issue.
Some general causes of overtime of course all over time has to do with collective bargaining
and so we are mandated to follow those collective bargaining rules but some of the general
causes are investigations, report writing, holiday pay, rest period overtime, back to back or
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Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
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cancelled days off, call back from vacation, sixth and seventh day provision, court call out,
standby, training, cell block coverage, special projects, meetings, and administrative duties.
These are all the things that we track every two weeks and so we try to keep tabs on all
these areas in terms of how much money we spending in each area.
Specific causes of overtime as we have less on expended salaries of course we can't
clip into those funds as we use to into the past. We hire twenty-three new Officers we are
also using positions to hire our background investigators and we also have clerical staff on
eighty-nine day contracts to help us with the work load. Whenever we have recruit training
that requires additional overtime. When the Officers are new it takes time for them to
learn the systems and so the Field Training Officers are there to assist them. Vacant
positions, sick calls, extend leaves, workers compensation, those are all things that if
someone calls in sick and you are in the Patrol Services Division we have to end up back
filling someone to take their place and so that ends up causing overtime. In the past hiring
in a timely manner was challenging for us as you know we have changed that system to be
a little more expedient and trying to get people hired quicker. Unanticipated major events
things like flash flooding, the recent GMO issues, those things we can't budget for those
types of things but yet we need to make sure to provide services for everyone's safety and so
those are all unanticipated. Another unanticipated issue is major criminal incidents,
homicides, bank robberies, things like that. Court attendance we have no control over. If
an officer is subpoenaed and they have the time off they need to attend court and so that
cost money. Increase in salaries of course not a cause however our overtime fund will be
depleted quicker because it's a higher rate of pay and generally not enough staff in all area
to efficiently do the job. One of the things I wanted to discuss in highlight was that we have
certain training requirements and all our training instructors have regular duty regular
jobs as well so when we need to pull them off line in order to do our training someone has to
take their position in order to get the job done.
Chief Perry: This is one example of unexpected overtime
expenditure. This murder investigation cost us eight thousand six hundred and eighty
dollars in overtime. Another example is the unexpected overtime with the GMO meeting is
approximately sixty-six thousand dollars and these are expenses that we feel are necessary
because it has to do with public safety and keeping...making sure that the peace is kept.
This is an example of things that we don't budget for but I comes up. We spent about seven
times more on the GMO overtime making sure everything is okay seven times more than
we did on the homicide investigation. So these types of expenditures will probably continue
on into the future and we have to be prepared for that.
Mr. Contrades: As I discussed the field training overtime this
next year we anticipate spending approximately a hundred ninety-two thousand dollars in
overtime to train our new Officers and again that is just something that happens. Some of
our new Officers are really good with the computer they are very fast in typing and so this
isn't much of a problem for some. Some take a little bit longer and so they need assistance
in terms of the method and format that we write our reports as well as with our Records
Management System so this is an estimate of the overtime that we believe that will be
spending this next coming year in terms of field training.
Chair Furfaro: Can I ask you a question here? So I think a lot of
your success was the fact that we went from one recruit training class a year to two.
Mr. Contrades: Yes Sir.
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Kaua`i Police Department (mn/dmc)
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Chair Furfaro: So do I assume the hundred ninety to eight
hundred that is per class? Or is that for both classes?
Mr. Contrades: For both.
Chair Furfaro: That is for both. Okay so roughly about eighty-
five thousand two hundred per increment of training. Thank you.
Mr. Contrades: So of course the question always is what has
KPD done to reduce the overtime. We have done and we continue to monitor...one of the
things is to expedite the hiring process to fill the vacancies quicker. We have implemented
a minor traffic collision report that the Officers actually do in the field. It is a very simple
report to document and record who was involved in the traffic accident. They rip of the
duplicates and hand it out to each person and submit the original. This prevents them from
having to come back and rewrite everything on the computer and we found that to be very
helpful. We have re- implemented a coding system for non criminal and unfounded reports
and this was to assist us in reducing the amount of reports that were written and to again
to reduce the overtime cost. If I'm not mistaken I think we reduced the amount of reports
having to be written by four thousand this past year. Patrol is kept fully staffed and this is
to reduce the cancelled days off unfortunately it does have a negative effect on moral. We
do have a number of Officers who are waiting to get into specialized units but because it is
imperative for us to keep our budget tight we are not moving them into those special units.
Of course that has an effect on the services that those special units can provide to the
community.
Our public safety workers or cell block workers have been added to the patrol
schedule they now rotate with the platoons like the Officers do and our Patrol Officers are
rotated into cell block for coverage. We utilize webinars and online training to replace some
traditional training, we utilize a company called The Public Agency Training Counsel, we
also adopted system called power DMS and we can put training assignments and general
orders on there for people to review and it keeps a documentation the actual training that is
done online and the County has a really good program that is called E Solutions and that's
how we do things like sexual harassment prevention training and other types of work
related trainings. We have a by monthly review system in place and we review everyone's
overtime in terms of what specific areas are we spending the money on so we try to mitigate
that by watching how much money is spent in each section. We do increase tracking in our
efforts for special and major events. We have a lot of requests throughout the year for
traffic control, security, I mean all type of things for community events and so any
community event or major event we track how much money we spend on that. Another
thing we have do to reduce overtime is we will no longer respond to lost property reports. If
someone loses their wallet they can call in and an Officer will take it over the phone and
that saves us the time and effort to drive out to whatever location they are at.
Reduction and cancelled days off and so by keeping our patrol services bureau fully
staffed in July of this fiscal year we had two hundred and fifty cancelled days off. We
brought it all the way down in February to only forty-eight. We won't be able totally get
away from cancelled days off and the reason behind that is again we have people that call
in sick, you have people who are on extended leave, you have people out on workmen's
compensation claims. In patrol when someone is out you need someone there to fill that
position.
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As discussed earlier we have reduced our hiring process to a six month period.
Unlike other departments I guess perhaps maybe fire because they have to spend some
time doing training in the beginning of their recruit classes but it takes us about six months
to hire somebody and once they are on the books and they fill the position it takes us six
months for academy training and then another three months for field training before they
are actually out on the road and giving us a cost savings. This cost savings is only in terms
of cancelled days off it doesn't' affect the other forms of overtime.
More results from our efforts in July of 2013 we spent two hundred and eighty-three
thousand dollars in overtime and we were able to get that down to a hundred and fifty-one
thousand dollars a month in overtime. It fluctuates depends upon how many holidays we
have two holidays in a row...I mean in a month that will skew your numbers but December
is when the recruits were actually out on their own fill a spot in patrol and so we were able
to have a massive reduction in terms of overtime because they filled those gaps in patrol.
The major cause of overtime is the amount of services we provide and not being able
to have enough personnel to do what is expected what the responsibilities that we have.
Chief Perry: I am sure Council is familiar with this
population to Officer ratio. I presented it last year and it really hasn't changed. Currently
based on the average of 2.30 officers per thousand and looking at the defactal population we
are still about forty-four officers down compared to the national standard. In fact I was
reading this article by this police Chief of Kibler Arkansas, Roger Green and he said crime
knows no boundaries and he said that Kibler is a great community but it's going to have
crime and it's not different from Kibler or for Kaua`i. The difference with Kibler is that
there are only three officers. The reason why I say that is because on O`ahu if one officer is
gone it doesn't mean anything but if Kibler if one officer is gone that a third of the
department and similarly here if we lose any more officers then it has a greater impact then
it would in any larger organization. Also in the recent article in the Garden Island and it is
entitled More Traffic Ahead and it basically talks about department of transportation but
they had an interesting paragraph in there and it says during the same time the islands
(meaning Kaua`i) population is expected to grow by thirty percent to eighty-five thousand
two hundred and now they ask the residents by 2035. The most significant growth
according to reports it's expected to be in Lihu`e and South Shore areas of the island. Now
if that is the case then will the defactal population of about a hundred thousand, and if we
don't increase we are looking at seventy-four officers down, so I understand there are
physical constraints but it is my responsibility to bring it to the Council's attention and the
results of not having enough personnel to do the job that we are tasked to do is burn out
officers being away from their family, low retention, health problems, stress, and reduced
moral. Those are the challenges we face not only today but moving forward into the future
and there is another cause of overtime that we neglect to mention and because it is used
infrequently but sometimes it cost a lot of money is dignitary protection. We have
individuals coming from the Federal Government from the Mainland who comes down here
and we need to provide them with services now we don't advertise that because of security
purposes but we still have to provide that type of protection and it entails over time.
Mr. Contrades: We did a twenty-five year comparison and the
reason that it is twenty-five years comparison is because twenty-five years ago was the last
time we expanded our beats and so if you look starting off in ninety-one we are given two
additional sworn personnel and the following year lost two added one and from ninety-four
on there were no additional increases. On the civilian end two in ninety-two and two in
ninety- three, one in ninety-five and six in ninety-six.
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Chair Furfaro: Excuse me but can you go back to that chart.
Mr. Contrades: Sure.
Chair Furfaro: I not going be critical here but I want to say to
you that I have been watching some things at the police commission and I'll talk about it
later openly about the commissioners and some of the responsibilities I expect from them
but you give us a formula that I interpret that basically say in the next ten years if the
population gets to eighty-nine thousand the Kaua`i Police Department to comply to a
standard in the next ten years should have sixteen new positions not just new officers you
should fill all the vacancies and sixteen new officers but when you go back and make this
compares ion you left off a key factor here for me to calculate that. You didn't tell me what
the population was in nineteen eighty-nine.
Mr. Contrades: (inaudible)
Chair Furfaro: It is great you can tell me now but there are
situations where in any business you can be over staffed but I would like to say if we are
making this comparison you should tell me what the population was in nineteen eighty-
nine cause at some point you have crossed over and based on the national average you
became short but I don't think you became short in nineteen eighty-nine.
Mr. Contrades: I have the statistics and I'll be happy to send
them to you.
Chair Furfaro: Could you? Because I have been watching the
police commission and I've been looking for this discussion and I'm not see that discussion
about the two year incremental plan that as the Chief mentioned him and I have been
talking about how do we form a plan that says this is how many officers we should add. So
if you can send it over it would really help me frame the starting point and then frame
where we should be in ten years.
Mr. Contrades: Will do.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you Assistant Chief.
Mr. Contrades: I did include however the calls for service back at
that time and that is roughly twenty-one thousand. And so in the end and I kind of wanted
to point this out here and there a fifty ten, eleven seven and over this twenty-five year
period although the numbers look like it is a fifteen sworn officer increase technically its
ten and the reason I say that is because we recently converted five public safety worker
positions police officer positions so they are not really new positions per say but they are
new officer positions and so depending on how you want to interpret that over the twenty-
five year period we've had an eleven percent increase or seven percent increase in the
amount of sworn staff. Now the civilians is a little skewed and the reason it is skewed a
hundred and seventy-nine percent is because fifteen of those are school crossing guards and
while they play an important role in safety for the schools in terms of daily operations of
the Police Department it has no effect on us. The ten public safety workers in two thousand
and two was something that we had to do reason being is that previously KCCC would hold
our forty-eight detainee for us at a certain point they said I'm sorry we are not doing that
anymore so we had to hire staff in order to take care of a our cell block and create a cell
April 8, 2014
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block. Over the same period of time the calls for service increase by ninety-two percent and
so what we are saying is part of this over time dilemma is that we don't have enough
personnel to keep up with that so we're kind of stuck doing some of that overtime. We are
doing the very best we can to minimize that but some of that is beyond our control. I know
this is something we always get asked, well what about the other islands and I wanted to
thank the Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs from Maui, Hawai`i, and Honolulu they assisted us in
getting the statistics but if you look in comparison this is all twenty-five year comparison.
Kauai increased by ten, Maui by ninety-five, Hawai`i a hundred and five, and Honolulu it's
difficult to compare because they are a metropolitan police department but five hundred
and ninety new officers. On the civilian side forty-three for KPD, fifty-two for Maui, forty-
seven for Hawai`i, and a hundred and fourteen for Honolulu. So charted out this is what it
would look like in comparison and this is just the sworn officers.
So far fiscal year twenty-fifteen continued overtime concerns unexpected major
events and criminal incidents, increase in request for community support and events, and
this year we implemented annual recall training. Annual recall training deals with all the
high liability issues such as self-defense, fire arms, things like that require constant
ongoing training. What we try to do to stay fiscally responsible this year is we moved
specialize unit personnel into patrol in order to not have to pay overtime. That was the
initial mandate. We tried that for the majority of the training. The difficulty that we had
was that it took away from their normal responsibilities and so you have a Narcotics
Officers instead of Investigating drug crimes and things like that temporarily back filling
patrol so that we could do this training. We are not going to be able to do that next year.
Next year we are going to have to do our annual recall training on overtime funds. This is
a four (4) day, eight (8) hour training once a year.
Mr. Perry: I just wanted to go back to this slide with the
increases of the staffing for the sworn officers on the neighboring islands. We did not use
O`ahu obviously because (inaudible) Police Department but what we do not have like the
Chair had mentioned was the population increases. We have those numbers and the
numbers with regard to population percentage wise was not any significant difference from
Kaua`i with Maui and Hawai`i. There were some deviations there but the percentage wise
the increases were not significant but we will get you that information so you can make a
valid comparison.
Chair Furfaro: It would be interesting to lay those populations
over those same colors but different kind of line, maybe dots. Do Maui in red dots or
something like that so we can see the comparison.
Mr. Contrades: Before we get to the questions portion, we just
wanted to share with you this video. It is kind of a reminder of what our officers are up
against at times. Thankfully it does not happen every day but it does happen from time to
time.
(Video)
Mr. Contrades: That is it. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, Chief. I would say from
that presentation you made in the video there is probably one of the toughest jobs we know
in the community is being a Policeman. Thank you for sharing that. First of all, I want to
thank you for your piece on vision, values, and missions. I am going to give you a set of the
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Council's. We have ours posted in this building in two locations. We did this about three
years ago. May I assume that the Police Department, you have your mission, vision, and
value statements posted in the building so that the public can see?
Mr. Perry: Yes, we have it in every statement and along
with that we have our Police Commissioners and along with that we have both the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights next to our mission statement. In fact sometimes we
interview perspective applicants to the Police Department and "we" meaning the Deputy
and I just for clarification purposes and they sit in our lobby, you know right in front where
we are, but on the wall there is our mission statement, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights
and also the pictures of the Commissioners and when they come in, if they are not playing
on their iphone, one of the first questions I ask them is, "what did you see on our wall?"
That is an indication of how important it is for them or for the position that they are
seeking. If they can tell me, "I saw the mission statement..." That is golden.
Chair Furfaro: I am going through a couple quick summaries
here before we circulate some questions. First of all, the charts are very helpful and to the
Deputy Chief if we can put in these comparisons on population, it would help me greatly.
The last time I saw this and I think I spoke with you, Chief, I have come up with a number
that says, "we need to be on a path that over the next ten (10) year minimum adds at least
seventeen (17) fulltime positions and that would be at least three (3) more beats at six (6)
officers each and how do we get there." I forget the young lady's name, was it Stacy?
Mr. Perry: Stacy.
Chair Furfaro: Who did you Cops Grant, she did a great job.
Through that presentation I was hoping that we would get something through a discussion
with the Police Commission because I think I said let us see if we add or we plan to add six
(6) new officers every two (2) years by first using grant moneys and then matching it in two
(2) years with carrying those costs ourselves. Then vice versa to get us through this point
that we would add between seventeen (17) and eighteen (18) new officers and that was just
for discussion. If you need to bring someone over to facilitate a discussion with the Police
Commission, I am sure I would even go as far as looking at some of our travel budget in this
year to get somebody over there to help the Commission. I have been watching the Police
Commission and I have not heard that discussion unless it is offline but I did hear all of the
requests about coming to the Council for more money but I do not recall the Commission
coming to the Council with an agenda item yet. I would hope that we would get to that
point. I think that is where we really need to sit with the Commissioners. On the charts,
the number you gave us is a hundred and ninety-two thousand eight hundred ($192,800)
that is our investment with the trainers to train these groups of new officers?
Mr. Perry: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Have you ever thought about what it would be to
identify a permanent training team so that it would not always be on overtime? Should
that be something that is in our future vision?
Mr. Perry: That would be the ideal situation because all of
the other islands have a permanent training section. That is what we would want. Also, not
only a training section but also a training facility that we would like to have because right
now we are going to the Civil Defense and we trying to find rooms wherever we can. That
would be ideal.
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Chair Furfaro: So, maybe we should look at the ideal situation
first before we look at the shortcuts is what I am saying. Because the overtime is
actually...if we are accomplishing this and this is one and half times the rate, really for 2/3
of this price or a hundred and ten thousand dollars ($110,000), we should be able to have
some individuals indentified as permanent trainers.
Mr. Perry: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: And we would save the premium pay. So, it is
worth investigating that is all I am saying. When we look at the overtime costs that starts
right now, do you weigh any priorities on the overtime like this training outweigh covering
of sick calls? Is there any priority of what overtime you would not fill because this other
type of overtime is more important?
Mr. Perry: Priority number 1 is officer safety so we have to '
fill the beats of course.
Chair Furfaro: Which leads us to the fact that you need more
officers over the next ten (10) years?
Mr. Perry: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: May I complement you on the vacancy that have
been filled. You guys have done a tremendous job of getting where we are at under some
very difficult times. The loss property reports, do I assume the Police Commission was part
of that discussion and you presented to them your management of priorities and they are
fully aware of this new procedure?
Mr. Perry: I do not recall if I did. I know we mentioned it
during Police Commission meeting and there were no objections to it. We went over the cost
cutting measures during our meetings.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. I want to make sure I understand the
Deputy Chief, this reduction that you showed us on canceling the, I guess it is the days off
by officers, that is directly related to the fact that you have filled seventy-three (percent
(73%) of your vacancies because you have these new trained officers?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: That is the biggest reward.
Mr. Contrades: That was a big impact and also the philosophy of
keeping patrol full staffed. In the past we would transfer people to specialized units which
we hope to do but in order to make sure that is patrol is fully staffed, we are holding off on
those transfers.
Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Mr. Contrades: So instead of patrol being short, we have our
specialized units that are short.
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Chair Furfaro: But in not canceling days off it actually gives
officers a little more quality time with their families.
Mr. Contrades: Absolutely.
Chair Furfaro: So that is the immediate payback, right?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Again Chief, I am following your numbers if I can
see the population next to it...but I want to reiterate I still think that we need to work with
the Federal Cops Grant and say to ourselves, "here is an eight (8) or ten (10) year plan that
at the end of it will give us seventeen (17) or eighteen (18) new officers in additional to what
we have now." That is kind of like the minimum goal, I think. If I could see those
population growths, I would appreciate it very much. I want to thank you for the
presentation here. The last time we calculated the cost of a beat, it is about eight hundred
ten thousand dollars ($810,000) for...was it six (6) officers and one (1) sergeant?
Mr. Contrades: Yes, a total of seven (7).
Chair Furfaro: That is what makes up a beat, right, if I recall.
And when you add a number of beats at some point is there a Lieutenant added?
Mr. Contrades: It depends upon the structure. Generally you do
not want to go beyond the span control of seven (7) or eight (8), somewhere around there.
Our plan is that we would like to create a Kawaihau District as its own. So, some day you
will have three (3) sergeants in the Kawaihau District along with a Kawaihau District
Lieutenant.
Chair Furfaro: A Lieutenant?
Mr. Contrades: One (1) Lieutenant. So, you would have
somebody sitting over Hanalei, Kawaihau, Lihu`e, and then Waimea and then far into the
future we also hope to have somebody in the Po`ipu area.
Chair Furfaro: So, how short is that Cops Grant as far as the
real staffing you would like from me? Is it one (1) Lieutenant short now?
Mr. Contrades: It is one (1) officer short.
Chair Furfaro: So a real beat should have been eight (8)?
Mr. Contrades: Should have been seven (7).
Chair Furfaro: Because we are only getting six (6), I got it.
Mr. Contrades: Yes, sir.
Chair Furfaro: To my colleagues at the table thank you for
letting me ask my summary questions. Mr. Rapozo. Chief, I may have to step out at 3:00
and when I do I am going to turn over the meeting to Mr. Rapozo. Mr. Kagawa, you have
the floor.
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Mr. Kagawa: Thank you for your presentation. Last year in
the budget we were concerned about our aging fleet and how we did not ask for vehicles last
year because we were tight on money and this year we are adding, how many new vehicles?
Mr. Contrades: Eight (8) patrol vehicles.
Mr. Kagawa: How long will those take to come in and be in
service?
Mr. Contrades: If the vehicles are approved then we can expend
the money in July of...
Mr. Kagawa: How fast does the cars get actually into working?
Mr. Contrades: It can take anywhere from a year to a year and a
half depending upon how long it takes for procurement. It takes time for our personnel to
write the contracts and get everything in place.
Mr. Kagawa: I remember asking the question last year
about...because I noticed in O`ahu a lot of nice SUVs that had the blue light on, so, I kind of
asked about those subsidized vehicles whether we were planning to expand that here and
what was the affects. I recall last year saying that it is a good thing that officers had to take
care of their vehicles and it was at a cost savings to the County because they would, I guess,
out of those money that they cared for it, I guess we got a better bang for our buck. Officers
were happier too which was really a win/win/win. This year we are not adding any
subsidize vehicles?
Mr. Contrades: Unfortunately no.
Mr. Kagawa: And why is that? Because I mean I am just
looking at these...if it worked for City and County and it works well for the Big Island then
why would we not keep expanding in that direction?
Mr. Perry: My understanding is that it is still on a trial
basis. The Administration is looking at the cost savings. From experience I used to have a
subsidize vehicle with the Honolulu Police Department and the benefits are that not only
are you able to respond to emergency situations not unlike our take home care program and
also you ability to know how your car operates, parking is not a problem because you take
your car home, the other part is if there is any repairs that needs to be done on the vehicle,
it comes out of the subsidize allowance. So, you take care of all of that. You do not have to
take your car to the County garage facility and wait however long it takes for them to do
the repairs because sometimes it takes a long time so the car is out of service. Those are
the benefits that I see. It saves money for the County and then it gives us more mobility
and more flexibility to address emergency situations.
Mr. Kagawa: Would also another benefit be that if we approve
of a certain amount of subsidize vehicles...as soon as final approval is made on our budget
those can immediately be put into work. Some of those old cars that we keep fixing we can
put them aside and maybe use it when we really have to.
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Mr. Contrades: It is much quicker to getting a car through
subsidize then it is going through leasing.
Mr. Kagawa: I mean the last thing I want to do is add to our
budget but I am hearing that it works well and that is probably the long-term direction that
we are going so I am thinking that if that is the direction that we are going then let us go
ahead and start doing it. I think the Police has done a great job being the most modest
about the increases. I mean I look at your budget and really I do not know how we were
doing without cutting service because your budget only goes up one point nine (1.9) million
. and the salaries alone which we could not control negotiated increases is two million
(2,000,000) so basically your other expenses took a hit. I cannot see putting those purposes
off and why it takes so long for them to come in but I do not how long is that Scott that
takes care of those cars for you guys.
Mr. Contrades: Glenn.
Mr. Kagawa: You guys said last year there were way over a
hundred thousand a lot of those cars and...go ahead Steve.
Mr. Hunt: Councilmember Kagawa, just so you understand
too, 1) there are not being purchased they are being leased and 2) there is a big difference
on the subsidize which are not patrolled pursuit vehicles. These are ones that are actually
the marked cars that we are replacing so it is not an option to take a subsidize vehicle and
use that as a pursuit car. We are continuing to work together with the Police Department
at exploring the subsidize and I think that is a great way to go but again because we got
late in the year in terms of getting the first batch out for the FY 2014, we really could
not...I could not come to you and tell you what the savings was. I cannot tell you. We are
still exploring what the options are. We did have an unanticipated addition to the insurance
side and apparently as you get a better track record and as more subsidize vehicles are
added, that number comes down but initially the insurance per vehicle was a lot higher
than we anticipated. It is sort of in the pilot mode and we definitely want to head this route
but until we actually can see the results, we do not want to expand ourselves that much
further in investing into that.
Mr. Kagawa: Well I mean we are not really, to me, the pilot
because we know it works well for O`ahu and the Big Island, right? Have we heard
anything negative from subsidize fleet?
Mr. Hunt: There have been no negative comments but I
have not seen a dollar figure saying, "this is what the savings have been," or "this is how
much longer the vehicles have lasted." What I do not have is the data to work with. Again,
I am not opposed to it but I want to see it.
Mr. Kagawa: I understand. I am worried that these marked
cars that we have are ready to break and I am worried that we do not have...and we did not
take the initiative of addressing that now.
Mr. Hunt: And that is the distinction we need to make,
these are the marked cars that we are replacing right now. So the subsidize as funds allow
we will continue to use but the marked cars that we are talking about are the ones that are
out in pursuit. Those are different kinds of vehicle. Those will not be subsidized.
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Mr. Kagawa: I think we use some marked cars for... in place of
being able to use the subsidize, right?
Mr. Hunt: My understanding are the subsidize are the ones
that are the unmarked that are going home with rank officials in lieu of cars that were
provided that were none pursuit by the Police Department in the past.
Mr. Kagawa: I guess I am a little confused on that part.
Mr. Contrades: The subsidize vehicles right now mainly went to
Detectives in Investigative Services Bureau so they were given ten (10) and the rest were
given through different levels of Administration.
Mr. Kagawa: So, if we went additional who would those go for?
Mr. Contrades: Our hope and our eventual goal is that everybody
from the rank of Sergeant and above would have a subsidize vehicle.
Mr. Kagawa: They have the option to go that way?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Kagawa: Do you think there is an interest amongst some
of those Sergeants and stuff right now that would want to go...
Mr. Contrades: Absolutely.
Mr. Kagawa: I am only one (1) vote but let us do it.
Mr. Contrades: I do not think you will find that anyone of them
that has it would say it was a bad idea.
Mr. Kagawa: If you could give me an estimate for fifteen (15).
Mr. Contrades: Two hundred and thirteen thousand dollars
($213,000).
Mr. Kagawa: Okay. I will have staff put that in as my
addition should I find two hundred and thirteen thousand dollars ($213,000). My last
question, K-PAL, are we funding that anywhere in our budget?
Mr. Perry: K-PAL is actually not within our organization. It
has not been adopted yet. It is a non-profit organization outside of the scope of our
Department but we are in the process of incorporating a position within the Department.
When we do that, then KPAL will be captured within the Department and we will keep the
non-profit status separate so that they can do the fundraising for KPAL while we execute
the program itself.
Mr. Kagawa: I know I added last year some for KPAL so I was
hoping to...if you guys do not fund it then I may do another one when I have my chance to
add at the end. Thank you.
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Chair Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo, may I just make a statement?
Mr. Rapozo: Sure.
Chair Furfaro: I want to make sure you caught my meeting. I
am asking for us to come up with a plan on this growth and staffing. I want to see the plan
first. Mr. Rapozo, you have the floor.
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Kagawa:
Mr. Kagawa: Do you guys have an aging report on our fleet
that we have as far as mileage, what year, and maybe Glenn's overall rating from 1 — 10 on
what kind of condition that engine is in?
Mr. Contrades: We can get that for you.
Mr. Kagawa: If it is not too much trouble. I do have a basic
breakdown though in case we were asked because we are asking for the eight (8) vehicles.
We have one 1999 vehicle, two 2000, six 2001, eight 2002, one 2003, twenty 2005, eight
2006, twenty-four 2007, and fourteen 2008 vehicles. The 2005, 2007, and 2008s —those are
mainly our marked patrolled units. The 2005 and the 2007s have between 80,000 and
100,000 miles but if you want the exact numbers, we can get that for you.
Mr. Kagawa: I appreciate it.
Chair Furfaro: I want to be careful about my instructions now, if
you have that information give it to my staff so we can make copies. I want to cut down on
this flow of back and forth of summaries. If you have something right now and we can
make a copy of it, Deputy, I would appreciate that. Is the sheet you just read from
available?
Mr. Contrades: This is available but I have a more
comprehensive list but I would have to redact some of the information.
Chair Furfaro: Can you get it turned around to us in two (2)
days?
Mr. Contrades: Sure. No problem.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, we will do that then. Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: How long is the lease for? The eight (8) that we
are getting, how long is the lease?
Mr. Contrades: Three to five (3 — 5) year lease. It is a five (5)
year lease.
Mr. Rapozo: Five (5) year lease. And if somebody from
Finance can come up and help is better but how much is the value of that lease? After five
(5) years, how much will this County have paid in five (5) years for the eight (8) vehicles?
Because I can do the analysis right now. It does not take that long to do a rough analysis of
subsidize versus...and the subsidize, Steve was talking about...I think something else.
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Steve is talking about the subsidize that you may have now but I am talking about
subsidize for patrol. I am talking about subsidize like Honolulu and the Big Island where
they put the lights on and they actually use that car as pursuit vehicles and police vehicles.
That is what I am looking at. For five (5) years... I am sorry, did you have...
Mr. Contrades: I was going to say one of the concerns that we
have and the reason why we are saying Sergeants and above is because of the pursuit
rating. A lot of the vehicles are not there. They make some that are pursuit rated and so if
we would go down to the officer level, we would require them to purchase pursuit rated
vehicles.
Mr. Rapozo: Right which is what Honolulu does and which is
what the Big Island does.
Mr. Contrades: No... (inaudible).
Mr. Rapozo: Honolulu does not do it?
Mr. Contrades: And that is one of the concerns that we had and
that is why we are saying Sergeants and above subsidizes because the chances of them
being involved in a pursuit are very limited. If we did go down to the officer level, we would
want to make sure that the vehicles they purchase are pursuit rating.
Mr. Rapozo: Right, I mean, I recall Honolulu and Chief maybe
you can correct me if I am wrong but the patrol officers at one time did have but they were
restricted to what they could purchase and so forth.
Mr. Perry: Correct. There were criteria that we had to meet
before you could purchase a car, you could not purchase a Volvo or any car like that but
what happened was...this was challenged with Isaac Vea was involved in a traffic collision
fatality, he passed away and he was driving an Explorer and it flipped on the H-2. That
issue was brought up, "was it pursuit rated and did he qualify in that vehicle in the
training?" Those issues were never addressed. So, in taking the precautionary measure on
our side, we did not want any patrol officers to have vehicles that are not pursuit rated, so
there are vehicles out there that are pursuit rated and those are very limited in numbers.
They would have to go and purchase those vehicles and they will be tested first. It is not
out of the realm of possibility that we could do that and I foresee as you can calculate there
will be a cost savings so we do not need to be leasing or purchasing new vehicles every so
many years.
Mr. Rapozo: But these vehicles...the eight (8) vehicles that we
are purchasing now will be marked?
Mr. Contrades: Those are marked and are pursuit rated.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay but without subsidized vehicles these
vehicles would be used by your Sergeants as well, right? I mean the Sergeants that you
talk about—Sergeants and above that are "subsidized," will be patrol sergeants, right?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
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Mr. Rapozo: They will just be basically...if they are on a
subsidized program they would not be allowed to go into a pursuit?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: May I ask a follow-up question? Chief, I did not
hear the other part, it had to be pursuit ready and the individual had to be trained?
Mr. Perry: Yes, they will have to be tested in the vehicle,
they would have to pass a standardized course to make sure that they know how to operate
the vehicle in an emergency type situations.
Chair Furfaro: Is that training in Honolulu?
Mr. Perry: We do the training here.
Chair Furfaro: We have that course that meets the criteria?
Mr. Perry: Right. We have certified trainers here on Kaua`i.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: If we were to go with eight (8) subsidize vehicles
this year versus eight (8) of these marked vehicles lease, those vehicles would be...I would
assume could be purchased in a day, right? The officer goes down to the dealership and he
purchases.
Mr. Contrades: It is pretty quick.
Mr. Rapozo: And the eight (8) vehicles that those Sergeants
and above are currently using — the blue and white would be sent back to the fleet to be
used?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay. Again, I am going back to my question as
far as the lease value of a five (5) year lease, how much will this County have paid in lease
payments in five (5) years?
Ms. Arruda: For the eight (8) that we have on budget right
now, eighty-five thousand dollars ($85,000) per year, so for five (5) years.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay. Eighty-five thousand dollars ($85,000),
Mr. Chair, I know you are good with math...eighty-five thousand times five...that would be
four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ($425,000) in lease payments alone? I know
it is very difficult to establish how much the maintenance of that vehicle for five (5) years
would be. Would somebody put it on the board...what was the number—three hundred and
somewhat dollars a year for basic maintenance? Was that what I saw?
Chair Furfaro: Three, sixty-five or something like that.
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Mr. Rapozo: Okay.
Mr. Perry: May I say something? The subsidize vehicle
program, you can use your car for eight (8) years and like every other car you have to get it
safety check and the rest. But at the end of eight (8) years, it has to go through a complete
safety check. By "complete" meaning they have to check the steering and all the bolts
underneath to make sure that the car is still safety worthy. So the end of eight (8) years if
it passes that test then you are allowed to use that car for another two (2) years. If you
take care of your subsidized vehicle car, you can use that car for ten (10) years.
Mr. Rapozo: Right. But that does not impact the County
outlay because your subsidized amount, I would assume is probably by collective
bargaining.
Mr. Perry: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: What is that amount today?
Mr. Contrades: It is five hundred and sixty-two dollars ($562)
and that would be for certain units like Investigative Services Bureau and Administration.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay.
Mr. Contrades: If you are a patrol officer, it is six hundred a
month.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay so the patrol sergeant.
Mr. Contrades: That is six hundred a month.
Mr. Rapozo: Six hundred a month. I apologize for having to
do this on the fly but I just want to... so six hundred a month times twelve is seventy-two
hundred times that by eight (8) is fifty-seven thousand six hundred and then you times that
by five (5) years. The County outlay for that same eight (8) subsidize vehicles would be for
five (5) years would be two hundred eighty-eight thousand dollars ($288,000). That is just
the subsidize payments. The County does not pay any maintenance for that. That comes
out of the six hundred dollars a month.
Mr. Contrades: The only collective bargaining requirement
besides gasoline is oil and that is it.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay.
Mr. Contrades: So the tires, maintenance...
Mr. Rapozo: Everything is off of the officer. What about
insurance? Does the County have insurance?
Mr. Contrades: The County is responsible for liability. Steve
touched upon it where it is...I think right now it was nine hundred and eight? Is that
correct, Steve?
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Mr. Rapozo: A month?
Mr. Contrades: Nine hundred a year.
Mr. Rapozo: Oh, nine hundred a year?
Mr. Contrades: Per car. Honolulu has gotten theirs down to I
think about five hundred fifty-six because of how many years they have been doing it.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay so we add another thirty-six thousand for
insurance and I do not know how much oil can the cars use in five (5) years but I am
assuming it is minimal. But just using these rough numbers, it looks like anyway it is a
huge savings if we go subsidize based on the lease amount. If we were paying eighty-five
thousand dollars ($85,000) a year for five (5) years then I do not know, Steve, I do not know
what else you are waiting for. I am not sure if you are looking for... I do not know because if
we are looking at getting cars on the road... this is a year and a half, you are telling me to
get...if we approve this in this budget, it takes a year and a half to get a blue and white on
Kauai?
Mr. Contrades: It takes time 1) for our personnel to write the
contracts.
Mr. Rapozo: But do we not use the same contracts we use last
year? No? I see Ernie saying no. Okay, well.
Mr. Contrades: So, it takes time for that and once it goes
through the entire procurement process is awarded, normally they get two hundred and
seventy (270) days to deliver.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay. I understand that process. So, Steve,
maybe you can clarify?
Mr. Hunt: I just wanted to add to and again this is part of
the analysis but at the end of the fifth (5th) year, the vehicle on the lease is ours—we own it.
If this goes out eight (8) years, you are continuing to pay that subsidy to the officer for the
vehicle beyond those three (3) additional years. There is a plus/minus I absolutely agree
with that especially if that vehicle at the end of the fifth (5th) year ends up being not
serviceable anymore but if we are doing proper maintenance and continuing that, and
depending on the maintenance...the maintenance costs start to escalate after that fourth
(4th), fifth (5th) year too. Therein lays that sort of margin where subsidize versus having
a...on the patrol, I absolutely agree on the Detective side it is going to work. I am not as
certain on the patrol side right now.
Mr. Rapozo: I am talking about a none pursuit vehicle. So, it
is still a patrol vehicle because a patrol sergeant will use that car.
Mr. Contrades: Right.
Mr. Rapozo: So without that car being in pursuit that person
cannot enter pursuit then you will not have those issues. The cars should last a good time
April 8, 2014
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but our police vehicles, I have seen them, sometimes we get $25 or $50. The car does not
worth much at the end.
Mr. Hunt: Again, I am not as familiar with their operations
in terms of the pecking order of the vehicles, do the higher ranking get the better vehicles
because if that is the ones, we got to push those back into the fleet and make sure the ones
coming out of the fleet are the oldest obviously. Part of that goes into, "how many years of
service remain on cars that can be serviceable and used either for none pursuit but
Sergeant and above type vehicles—the marked cars.
Chair Furfaro: Steve, may I ask who will be able to do more
than just Mr. Rapozo penciling out, where would we get this kind of analysis because I can
see also that the incentive for the Officer to keep the car was to go beyond the five (5) years,
right?
Mr. Hunt: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Because he is still sees himself in the premium
so that is an incentive to take good care of the car.
Mr. Hunt: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Our program is five (5) years and what are the
down sides to that? I am not asking for this to be turned around in two (2) days but I am
certainly asking, what is fair and reasonable for us to have something?
Mr. Hunt: Sure and I am happy to work with Police because
our analysis is focused on the subsidize for the none pursuit/none marked cars. We have not
taken it further than that if that is the direction we are given, I am happy to work with
Police to work on some of those numbers.
Chair Furfaro: The direction I am giving you folks is can you
turn something like that around in a week, ten (10) days or whatever it is so that we know
before we get to the final decision what works best for us. That is what I am asking for. Is
that feasible?
Mr. Hunt: I will do my best to get it out in within a week
depending on available time.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, could we shoot for the 21st of Call-Backs?
That you be back just on automobile leases for the Police Department, give us a worksheet.
Mr. Rapozo: The eight (8) vehicles, is that sufficient though
right now? I see some head nodding in the back but... I mean I am reading your numbers
and it seems like eight (8) may not be sufficient to bring your fleet up to a safe standard. I
guess that is my concern is the safety. I am looking at these numbers here and I do not
know. Eight (8) subsidized/eight (8) marked — like Ross, I do not know where we will find
the money but we will find the money. I will be honest with you, I think as we look at the
numbers the statistics, the increasing in staffing and beats from KPD and you know, it is
like I say this every year and I get some satisfaction saying it because at least I get to say it
but not like I see any changes. But that video was kind of graphic some of those videos are
not Kaua`i obviously its mainland but it can happen here. I can tell you the one that the
April 8, 2014
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cop got punched in the face, that was me twenty (20) plus years ago. I know exactly what it
feels like. Had seven (7) working that day because back in the old days never had the
overtime like we do today so when somebody called in sick, tough cookies, you run a double
beat. So happen that was that day. My backup was in Kapa'a and that was not fun. I
know exactly and I look at the numbers of the percentage of growth and I sit here every
year approving positions and stuff for everybody else because, oh, clerical, we need more
help. Oh, the bus we need more this or we need more here and we just keep giving. I look
at those numbers and the reality is I think this Council throughout the years have just
really taking advantage or taken for granted because the cops are going to do the work
anyway. They going work whether we give you guys the new car or not. You going work,
you going make it work, and you would drive with the flat tire if you had to. We have not
been proactive, "we" here at the Council to give you folks what you need. I feel bad about it.
I watch those videos and think, well it is going to happen on Kauai it is just a matter of
time. God forbid some cop get shot and we are going to be here saying maybe we should
have started that beat expansion a while ago. It frustrates me. Every year it frustrates
me. Every year when I hear other Departments come up and say, "we are going to convert
two half times to one full time, we can get more..." and we just give them. You came up for
the Cops Grant not long ago and you guys were scrutinized to the "t" for federal money
because we might have to pick up the tab later, well...of course we got to. It is our
responsibility to pay. I like the Chair's message earlier that we got to start looking at that
and this body has got to make the adjustment in the budget to accommodate public safety.
That just has to be done. I appreciate the Call-Backs— at least the cars, my gosh. If we can
just do eight (8) subsidized/eight (8) marked whatever, spend a year and a half to wait for
eight (8) cars, I think is pretty crazy if we can get it done. And if the sixteen (16) subsidize
works for you because it is not half as cheap, it is less but if we can somehow give you guys
more of the tools, the fleet cars and the subsidize cars, and then you can move the fleet
where you need to move it to so the less used positions can have the old junker, I do not
care, but as long as we get new stock in that Department. You are driving around 1999
vehicles?
Mr. Perry: We have one.
Mr. Rapozo: We got three (3) Nissan leafs across the street,
you guys want to use the leafs because nobody over there is using them. You can use them
for your Detectives to run around. I say that partly ingest but it is serious. That pilot
program was a flop. I do not know about the pilot program for you subsidize. I am assuming
it is working well. You guys are not parking them in the parking lot and leaving them there
because "they" do not want to use the car. Chair, sometimes I get carried away because of
the passion but when you think about it objectively, my gosh, we had a pilot program last
year on subsidize and with a pilot normally you come back the following year with a plan
and we do not have that.
Chair Furfaro: I just checked with the staff and I am going to do
revisiting this with a comparison for us at 3:00 on the 21st. I would like you to work very
closely with the Police Department and plan to talk about the lease vehicle comparison and
so forth. Oh okay, we have a window opening at 2:00 — 3:00 on the 21st. On that note, we
need to take a tape change. We should just take the whole ten (10) minute caption.
There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 3:04 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 3:15 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
April 8, 2014
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Chair Furfaro: I have to depart in about 15 minutes, so Mr.
Rapozo; I am going to summarize a couple items, if I can?
Mr. Rapozo: Sure.
Chair Furfaro: I would also like Commissioner O'Connor, could
you come up and take this other chair for a moment. In summary on these pieces here, I
would like to see and I would give you the floor in a minute, Jim, if you can bear with me. I
would like to see if we have to get some assistance to help the Police Commission with
facilitating this comment about the next ten (10) years and a growth plan for officers. We
need some help to get a facilitator here and I will be glad to share my travel budget with
you folks, I do not know what is available to you. I would like to see if we can put that on
the radar screen relatively soon. Chief, as we have now agreed April 21 between 2:00 p.m.
— 3:00 p.m. to see a comparison that is giving Administration and the Deputy Chief almost
two (2) weeks to evaluate these cost comparisons but I want to make sure in that cost
comparison, Chief, your department could maybe submit some kind of a position statement
even if it is pros and cons of which way you would prefer to look at this. I would appreciate
that very much. I think on this note, I am going to Jim the floor. You wanted to make a
statement on behalf of the Commission or yourself?
JIM O'CONNOR, Police Commission Chair: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: You are the Chairman, now?
Mr. O'Connor: I just went off as the Chairman.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, you have the floor and you want to offer
some comment to this budget piece?
Mr. O'Connor: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. First I want to
acknowledge your comment that I heard you rightfully make an half an hour or forty-five
(45) minutes ago...I wanted you to know that the admonition that you gave directly to me
as Chair last... I believe the first part of December, was taken to heart and discussed with
the Commission. We bought into what you were saying. What we quickly found is that we
were playing catch-up. We met quickly with the Deputy Chief and at that time, as you
know, the Department's were well into budget planning and we were introducing sort of a
new, by your request, a new tacit or another way to look at this. It has become readily
apparent to us then and as the Council sees now a good idea and something that should be
implemented. We did not see a way to jump in and do that in this budget and it was mostly,
at least not without a lot of help. We found out that we were in the last few years; we have
been good at looking at summaries as presented by the Chief. For us to say that we were
actively involved would be a little gross overstatement. Not out of their election but I think
we just got comfortable with the way it was going and not really taking an active role. I can
tell you that added to, if that is what it is, has changed and we are well into that process.
We would hope that the Council would see a marked change over the next year and that we
would be in great shape to present another side. We would like to be up here supporting
KPD when that process is reviewed by you. So, we do have members of the Commission
that have business experience and have been looking at budgets most of their lives. We can
tell you that we made one discovery, I guess, that you probably all discovered a long time
ago, but I can tell you that as one that is looked at a lot of budgets, that I understand them
and I think I know how to dissect them and I think I know how to try and do the best by
pushing numbers around and saving money where we can. Until I got into the Police
April 8, 2014
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Department budget and I think the first thing we all came to understand is that we had...
from the heart and from the conscience put a value on public safety. After we did that, if I
could use the term, "now you have to monitories it," and I saw a pretty good indication of
how you do that with Councilmember Rapozo and his pencil and eraser and he was able to
do that but he was there and he is way ahead of many of us in being able to do that. I do not
know how you all do this every year and look at it from a public safety standpoint and say
this is what we have to support monetarily and I do not know how you go home at night
without talking to yourself after you are through with this process. It is tough to do and we
are close to it now. We are probably never looked at it from that standpoint, at least take
it in and understand it, and stare it in the face until you asked us to look at this in a ten
(10) year budget process. So, we have to do that too, so now I guess we are going home
talking to ourselves just about the way you probably do when this budget process is over
but this...it has to be one of the toughest things that this Council goes through every year. I
do not know if we all have the answers to that and it is not something that we can throw
money at but I think we are all doing the best we can to try to put it on some kind of a plain
to evaluate it from a number standpoint and work it in to the overall of the County doing
business. But I will say that we are very proud of what gets done now on that basis by
these two (2) gentlemen and their staff. I have a greater appreciation for what the County
Administration does and goes through. We want to make our contribution from the Police
Commission and we will make the commitment to you that we are in that process and will
make it happen. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Jim. I know we talked about it the
last November/December, I want to make sure before I turn the meeting over, you know I
want to promote a healthy exchange of ideas and if it even means having a joint meeting of
the Council and the Police Commission, you know, let us do it. But I also want you folks to
understand that we are bound by the Charter, we cannot approve expenses in the future.
We can only have a budget with a budget plan and that is what I am asking you to
participate in this ten (10) year plan about staffing, about evaluating how can we leverage
grant moneys from the COP program the best because the flipside is if we take the grant
money and we cannot end up with a permanent beat the reality is that we have to pay the
Feds back. And that will put us in double jeopardy. I want to make sure that we can start
exchanging some ideas about what strategies we use for the Police Department going
forward. Also, on the automobile plan, I would like to see a real understanding of what the
numbers are? Yes, Mr. Rapozo works pretty quickly with his number 2 pencil but I would
like to see it in a document because when some of us end our term limits or whatever, the
plan has to be in place and the rationale on why we choose to go there should be well
documented and I would like to do that on April 21. It would be inappropriate for me to not
just say that I know you folks take your Commissions very serious and your time and
contribution and your volunteerism is much appreciated.
Mr. O'Connor: Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: We need to work through this together.
Mr. O'Connor: I agree. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Chief, I am going to be leaving here and you folks
are all good with the date I gave you to see if we can work together with Finance on this
piece, right? And then getting the Commission involved with a ten (10) year plan about
the staffing needs is extremely important for us to leave an audit trail on how we are going
April 8, 2014
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to the Department to the best of our ability, have the right number in the force. On that
note, Mr. Rapozo, I am going to step out, and I am going to turn the meeting over to you.
(Chair Furfaro, the presiding officer, relinquished Chairmanship to Mr.
Rapozo.)
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. We are still on the Chiefs Office,
any questions for the Chief? Go ahead, Mr. Kagawa.
Mr. Kagawa: I have a follow-up on the report that we are
asking for regarding the subsidize vehicles, if I could get a position from the Police
Administration if you support the Council adding to that line item and in the number of 8—
15.
Chair Furfaro: One more housekeeping item for you, Mr. Rapozo
and for you, Mr. Chock. A reminder tomorrow morning, I will be with Treasury on the
conference call for the Bond evaluation so I will not be joining you in the meeting for
tomorrow mornings meeting. Thank you.
Mr. Chock: What I heard is talking about the report and the
pieces we are asking for but what I did not see clearly is the request for the projection of the
amount of vehicles you folks need. We keep throwing out different numbers but if we can
see that total as we look whether it be this FY, coming FY, or the next, what that need is as
these vehicles are aging out. Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: I guess what I had hope to see is maybe
something that shows your needs with a mix of fleet...I mean lease versus subsidize. How
can we reach your needs in fleet management the most efficient/economical way possible
keeping our guys and gals safe. That is what I am looking at. I just do not want you guys to
get the leftovers, okay, this is what we have left, so you can have 8...I mean what do you
really need? How do we get that? How do we accomplish that in the next three to five
years? Mr. Chair talked about a ten (10) year plan but that is kind of what I want to see
because this year to year thing is very difficult especially if we are approving something
that is coming in a year and a half. That baffles me.
Chair Furfaro: Before the Chief answers that, may I say one
more thing? Chief, before you answer that I want you to know that the leaves are not
available. From the discussion we had with Economic Development, I went and checked
that they are being used. They are being used a lot of short-term trips within the Lihu`e
and Kapa`a area. I just wanted to clarify that for the record. I did not want us to think we
could give away the leafs because they are being used. Thank you again, Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: It is worth the try.
Mr. Perry: I will scratch that off my list.
Mr. Rapozo: Anything else for the Chiefs Office budget? Or
the Chiefs presentation that he made?
Ms. Yukimura: I have.
Mr. Rapozo: Go ahead.
April 8, 2014
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Ms. Yukimura: Chief, this premium pay line is one point two
(1.2) million, can you explain that? That is part of the collective bargaining, yes?
Mr. Perry: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: This is for everyone or just certain people of the
Administrative level?
Mr. Rapozo: What is the page number, Councilmember?
Ms. Yukimura: 88.
DAURICE A. ARRUDA, Fiscal Officer: The biggest increase on the
premium pay was the standard of conduct because of the collective bargaining.
Ms. Yukimura: Because of the what?
Ms. Arruda: Collective bargaining pay increases.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, right.
Ms. Arruda: Part of that was the...
Ms. Yukimura: So, that is for the whole Department?
Ms. Arruda: Correct. All of our pay role is in the Chief's
Office.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, okay.
Ms. Arruda: All together.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. I then had a question about
overtime.
Ms. Arruda: Oh okay.
Ms. Yukimura: I really appreciate your analysis of it and the
specific causes and the way you have been breaking it down. I mean it shows some really
good analysis. I was wondering which is the biggest cause? Can you send us cost out
amounts for each of the causes that you have identified, like vacant positions, recruit
trainings, hiring in a timely manner...
Mr. Contrades: What period of time are you asking for?
Ms. Yukimura: If you have the data for...well we are still in 2014
—so the data for 2013.
Mr. Contrades: So, you want this all broken down for 2014?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes. If that will give us some...
April 8, 2014
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Mr. Contrades: In the two (2) days that we have to turn around?
Ms. Yukimura: Oh, I see what you are saying. I am okay if you
take a little longer.
Mr. Contrades: Okay.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Three (3) days.
Ms. Yukimura: Can you tell us offhand which ones are the
largest overtime?
Mr. Contrades: Probably the cancel days off is probably one of
our largest expenditures. It just depends what occurs say for example we had a tsunami
warning and a potential for that and it did not hit and so we are not going to get some
Federal funding to take care of our pay, we still deploy the officers. That happened a few
years ago that costs us a large chuck of change. That would be on duty personnel being
held over as well as personnel that are on days off called back to work. Something like that
could screw these numbers from month to month and year to year but I think we made a
very large reduction in the canceled days off.
Ms. Yukimura: So canceled days off can also be when people call
in sick suddenly?
Mr. Contrades: Absolutely. If we have a minimum staffing of 15;
we have 3 Sergeants, 10 officers on beat, and then our 2 cell block workers. That is the
lowest that we will go. So, if someone does call in sick, we have to back fill. If we have
someone on extended leave for whatever reason in Patrol, we have to back fill. If someone
is injured or has a workmen comp claim and they are out for an extended period of time,
and they are from Patrol, we have to back fill. So that is probably our largest.
Ms. Yukimura: I was really impressed by your four thousand
(4,000) reports less. That is really great creative thinking.
Mr. Contrades: It is actually a system that was in place and if I
am not mistaken the Former Assistant Chief Arinaga came up with that system. We had
gone away from it for a little while because of the tight budget crunch, we decided to
implement it again. It just takes a lot of management.
Ms. Yukimura: Commendations for that. I thought it was real
creative too that you are rotating your Public Safety Workers to rotate with the platoon
patrol officers.
Mr. Contrades: Yes, Assistant Chief Quibilan and Acting
Captain Rosa implemented that system and it has helped us greatly in terms of reducing
overtime within cellblock.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, and then you are using webinar training,
that is really...in so many ways really... I can see that there has been a lot of effort in
April 8, 2014
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thinking in how to do that. I do want to say on the Special Events, specifically the GMO
hearings, I see that the largest was twenty thousand (20,000) was on that GMO hearing at
the Veterans Center. Certainly, that was a marathon for everyone.
Mr. Contrades: For everyone, yes.
Ms. Yukimura: But I do remember sitting upfront and looking
out in the late hours of the day when things have really settled down and seeing what
looked like the full crew of overtime Police and thinking they do not have to stay all the way
into the night because it had really settled down, so maybe one or two could have carried.
Mr. Contrades: We probably would not leave one or two people to
deal with that many people in case something happened.
Ms. Yukimura: But there were not that many people though in
the end.
Mr. Contrades: I could not comment on that because I was not
there unfortunately but I can say at a certain point it became such an expense that we
stopped providing assistance. It was during those one or two meetings that we started
getting complaints about threats and other things occurring. And so when we are not here,
yes, we are saving money but then you have situations where people are being threatened
and certain issues.
Ms. Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Contrades: And whenever we were here, generally
everything went fine. So, it is our concern to make sure on both sides of the issue
everybody is safe.
Ms. Yukimura: I appreciate that. Would it be possible to have
still a pretty significant presence but not everybody as things really go down in terms of...
Mr. Contrades: We try to watch that but it all depends on
circumstances, yes? I am sure you recall it was a very heated issue and we were very
concerned to make sure everything went well.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes.
Mr. Contrades: But we do look at fluctuations in terms of what is
occurring and try to staff appropriately.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes. My final question is on your field training
overtime, you mentioned that some of the officers do not type as well.
Mr. Contrades: Some are faster, some are better at it, some take
time. The system, you know, some people adapt to the system easier. We hire all different
types of people. I will give you an example, when I was first started typing was not
required.
Ms. Yukimura: That is true.
April 8, 2014
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Mr. Contrades: We had no reports. I could not pass the Aloha
Airlines typing test to be an agent up in the front and that was a 25 wpm test. I type
roughly 85 wpm today. So, sometimes it takes a little time in order for them to adapt to the
system. Like any other process it is new to them and so it takes time but they get good at it
once they are given that opportunity.
Ms. Yukimura: I see, thank you. Lastly...
Mr. Rapozo: "My final question," "lastly..."
Ms. Yukimura: It is not a question...I just saw your graph on the
cancel days off back fill and that is really extraordinary reduction. From 215 to 48. I just
wanted to acknowledge that.
Mr. Contrades: I want to of course credit our Patrol Services
Bureau for doing their best to maintain that as well as the sacrifices from the other
Departments who are doing a great job short staffed but do the best they can with it.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Anymore questions for the Chiefs
presentation?
Mr. Chock: As a follow-up I did make a request with the Fire
Department as well for future grants looking to next fiscal period as an indication of where
we might be headed and what we are focusing on. I think Steve will be following-up on that
but I wanted to inform you of that as well.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Kagawa.
Mr. Kagawa: I just have a comment as we leave, to be frank
with what is headed for the future, I think this year is the toughest budget in the history of
the County. I thank our Finance Director for trying to...sometimes I think we are not in
agreement but he is looking at the overall picture and it is really gloomy for this year. Let
us hope we turn the corner at some point, right Steve, I mean looking two or three years
ahead but I do not want to over promise that we will be able to fund additional positions in
the near future. I would say for two years, we got to look at staying the same size, at least,
but I think if we can in those two years ahead if we can try and improve like where we can
and perhaps in this way subsidize might be a way but there is...I do not want us to be
working too hard on trying to add positions because I think it is not being realistic. I think
we kind of actually got to hold the line, if anything, we got to reduce positions and I do not
see we reducing the Police force, not at all. It is going to be tough this next two years in
finding money. That is all my comments. Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Anymore questions for the Chiefs Office? Next
was Administrative and Technical. No questions? Investigate Services Bureau? Chief, did
you have presentations for each of these Divisions or did you just cover it all in your...
Mr. Perry: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Patrol? This is a record. Okay, no, please.
April 8, 2014
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Ms. Yukimura: On page 95 Federal grant uncollectable
receivables.
Ms. Arruda: This was a line item working with Finance that
we added in for a lot of the older grants that we are trying to close out. I think at the start
from when I started working there, we had over 50 grants that were back to 1993 that we
were trying to closeout. It was way before my time and we are still trying to work on it. I
think we dwindled it down with the help of both Ann and Ken to about 10 and this is what
we think is probably the maximum exposure of what...and it is necessarily uncollectable. I
think it is just expenditures that should not have been there that just did not get the
adjustments made timely. So, we are still working through that.
Ms. Yukimura: So, it is things that we applied to get covered as
expenses that we did on the grade program and I do see it as long ago, 1999 to 2003, and so
it is basically we are not able to get Federal reimbursement on it?
Ms. Arruda: Right.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. I am really glad we are working to
closeout instead of just letting them stay open and hanging there so I commend you for
that. I take it that whatever lead to this kind of holdover, if you will, that presently are
management of grants is not causing that to happen.
Ms. Arruda: No, I mean we are trying to keep up with the
grants with the staffing that we have. It is just a matter of keeping up with them.
Ms. Yukimura: Councilmember Chock's question about the
overall, I mean I think we are somewhat concerned about our dependency on grants if they
are funding recurring expenses because if they stop either the program has to stop or we
have to use General Fund moneys to continue them. If we have a lot of exposure that way,
we could be in trouble if things starts to tank in the Federal level or whatever and so
getting a picture of...and also trying to understand the Administrative requirements to
track and keep all those grants going is something we need to pay attention to. Thank you
for the information.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Anymore questions?
Mr. Chock: This question has been coming up so maybe you
folks can shed some light on it, in terms of the hiring process. I know we are looking to
fulfill some needs in terms of personnel and it came up with the Fire Department, I know
Mr. Kagawa was talking about it as well. In terms of the process what was explained to me
was that after...at least for the Fire Department the civil service test is done and it leads
towards...after the agility, there is a list that is created of which you folks can choose from
and then move towards an interview and other tests as well. The idea was...that we were
talking about was in comparison to the other islands and how we might expand that list
and include a larger base of candidates but I was wondering if you could speak to what that
ratio is? For instance, the Fire Department said, for one opening, they were able to bring in
ten additional names to the list. Is that similar to how you folks process?
Mr. Contrades: I will double check this but my understanding is
that whoever passes, we look at them all.
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Mr. Chock: Yes.
Mr. Contrades: And so we do not do the one to five ratio or one to
ten ratio. Whoever pass that exam, we take a look at all of them.
Mr. Chock: That is good. I guess the need is different.
Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: You probably got a lot less people passing the
Police test then the Fire test - as far as the eligibility.
Mr. Contrades: I am not too sure what that ratio would be.
Mr. Rapozo: Not the written test but the eligibility
requirements to just get in the game with the Police Department with all the different tests
you guys do. Mr. Kagawa.
Mr. Kagawa: Being a teacher, I kind of heard when I ask the
students, "what do you want to be?" Just seeing a lot of stellar students aspiring to be a
police officers, I want to complement the Police force and prior Council's and stuff because I
think we finally boosted the salary and everything where it is a little more attractive than
before. Not to say that previous guys who made it were not stellar but I am seeing more
interest as much interest as shown in the fire positions so kudos to that. I think we want
our local kids to aspire to be police officers. I think it is a good thing. I want to complement
you guys on that. Now one of the complaints or issues that have been brought up to me is
that, a little question about the psychology exam that is done and I guess one of the
candidates told me that he thought that his evaluation was not fair. It listed him as a
potential alcoholic and I guess with some anger issues. He just said that in general it is
hard to find...I mean it is not hard to find but a lot of us when we reach the age of 21 we
end up having some beers and stuff when we are off and I think everybody is a potential for
alcoholic if you find that you like it. As far as anger, I think everybody does have some cases
of anger. They have a point where they get mad. I have an anger issue but I think the
question is how fair is this evaluation being an overall and I think a candidate, if he is
disqualified needs to get a little better understanding of why he did not make it. I think
that two general conclusions is, for me, too vague. I do not know if you see my point but if
you wanted to comment on our evaluation system.
Ms. Yukimura: Chief, could we have...
Mr. Contrades: If I could call up Acting Assistant Chief Robert
Gausepohl. I just wanted to comment very quickly but Doctor Cory is the person we
contract out to do it and he is one of the top in the Nation. He is very good and we are very
appreciative of his efforts but Acting Assistant Chief Gausepohl directly works with him so
perhaps he could expand on that.
Mr. Kagawa: Yes. It is one side of the story but if there is
room for improvement we always want to look to improve because it could potentially be a
good candidate that maybe tossed out. Rob, could you answer?
ROBERT GAUSEPOHL, Acting Assistant Chief: It is a suitability screening along
with psychological testing. Dr. Cory has a great deal of data knowledge and experience in
the testing. I can assure you that the testing is fair. If they do not pass, they are welcome
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to try again. Sometimes it takes more than one time. I do not know who the candidate was
but...and we really cannot comment on that too much because of confidentiality but I can
assure you the testing is completely fair. A lot of the data is taken from Honolulu and us, so
it is not just mainland data. It is local data too.
Mr. Kagawa: Thank you. I accept the answer. Thank you.
Ms. Yukimura: I have a follow-up question. If I may, Chair?
Mr. Rapozo: Go ahead.
Ms. Yukimura: I think we have to remember the other side of
the coin because I know that there have been cases in the past and maybe you can help us
understand the importance of the test but there have been cases in the past where there
have been borderline people allowed into the force and then we had major problems with
that in terms of their inability to be officers that are effective.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Mr. Gausepohl: I think we are addressing that now. We have,
what I think, is a very good policy. Dr. Cory who services over 200 Police Departments as
their Psychologist and he mentioned that when he is asked questions about background
investigations who does he refer and he said he refers Kaua`i Police Department as his
exemplar and backgrounds. So, we are doing a good job. Not just because I say so but
because Dr. Cory says we are and he has really good basis to make that judgment over a
vast amount of data.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you.
Mr. Gausepohl: We have come a long way.
Mr. Rapozo: Go ahead, Chief.
Mr. Perry: We have one of the most stringent background
and investigators and we also use Dr. Cory. Dr. Cory was the same person that did my
evaluation when I was recruited and in the first phase I had to do (inaudible) personality
inventory and that was just for the pre-employment and then when I was given the job
offer, I had to take another test. So, a total of over 1,200 questions to make sure that I was
suitable for the position. The Chief of Police is held to a standard and so all our officers and
like you mentioned Councilmember Yukimura, we need to have individuals in there so that
there is no question about integrity. That is not to say that somewhere along the line
something may go wrong or change but the odds are in our favor that the officers that we do
have in place are the best of the best. That is why sometimes we have a hard time
recruiting individuals because there screened out so the candidates that we have that go
through recruit class are at a much higher level then when I came in. One of the questions
they asked me back in 1972 and that is a long time ago was, "you play basketball," and that
was one of the questions. That is not the way you do business. Today, is much different
because of liability issues and I commend those who come into the Department today
because it is a lot different and it is a lot more difficult.
Mr. Gausepohl: If I could also...it should be kept in mind that it
is a suitability screening and not that you are not good enough or you do not meet those
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standards. You definitely have to meet very high standards but there is also suitability
whether or not this person is going to be successful, productive, and happy as a Police
Officer. It is not for everybody. It might not be any reflection on the person we spoke to. It
just might be that he could be more happy and productive in a different field. So, that
should be kept in mind too.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you for clarifying that. It is not that the
person is bad if he does not pass it.
Mr. Perry: Not at all.
Ms. Yukimura: It is just whether he is suitable for the demands
and requirement.
Mr. Gausepohl: A big part of it is suitability. Our officers are
tasked with things that most people would not do. Just a personal story my best friend and
I were police officers in 1982 which is not as long ago as the Chief but it is quite a while
ago. We went to the Academy together, this is in Southern California. He is a great guy, he
is my best friend till this day but he was miserable as a police officer. He went on to do real
well in real estate and retail. He is a multi-millionaire now but for 25 years he felt bad
about it until it kind of dawned on him that it is a "suitability" thing. He was much more
suitable as a business man than a police officer. I think most police officers would trade
places with him too.
Ms. Yukimura: The test is pretty reliable, right, they have been
developed over many years and through a lot of psychological processes so that are fairly
good predictors, I think.
Mr. Gausepohl: They are excellent predictors. What the Chief
was talking about was the MMPI is used in the pre-employment offer portion of the
screening. After the background an initial job offer is going to be...if the Chief approves it.
At that point we will move on to the next phase which includes the MMPI2RF which is an
updated version and additional testing tailored to police officers specifically. It is very
comprehensive. Dr. Cory, right now is in Minnesota working with a research team
compiling more data for these tests to do his job better.
Ms. Yukimura: And the fact that this is such an intense process
and yet you found a way to make it happen quickly so that we can keep filling our positions
is really excellent.
Mr. Gausepohl: Well, I did not have a choice. I had to or was
ordered to.
Ms. Yukimura: Well to all of you who have been part of that,
thank you, because as you say we are now pointed to as an example of an exemplary
process. Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Anymore questions?
Ms. Yukimura: I have one more. You folks have moved now into
the temporary Kapa'a Armory site?
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Mr. Contrades: Yes, we are at the Kapa'a Armory.
Ms. Yukimura: I presume that it is a big improvement from that
small little shed that you had.
Mr. Contrades: Yes, a lot more space.
Ms. Yukimura: And I know there is a process ongoing for the
new substation but at least you have some better interim facilities right now and it is
working well.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Excellent. Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Anymore questions or comments?
Thank you.
Mr. Chock: I have a question. The discussion that you folks
were having brings me back to something that Chief Perry mentioned which is stating the
values that his organization stands for and then again what the Chair had mentioned about
the mission. We see this happen at every presentation that we have gotten — Departments
express the importance of the mission and I think as far as values are concerned and I just
saw the customer service mission from our HR and so forth is that it really goes back to
how we exemplify those values in our everyday life and through every action. That is what
we are being judged upon. I just appreciate the work for everyone and what you stand for
and that everyone has the opportunity at every moment act on the values that you have put
forth for us. Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. I guess I do have one question, it
popped up. When a person is disqualified because of the psychological test, are they
informed?
Mr. Contrades: They are notified.
Mr. Rapozo: They are given the reason? Because I just...it is
funny...
Mr. Contrades: We do not give specific reasons.
Mr. Rapozo: Why is that?
Mr. Contrades: That is in our policy.
Mr. Rapozo: I understand that but maybe Rob can come
up...a guy comes up to me and says...and I do not know if there is a problem letting them
know that he failed a specific part because now it is up to him to figure out what was it. I
am not sure what that rationale is for that policy.
Mr. Gausepohl: It is a confidential screening for one thing.
Mr. Rapozo: Right but that is the person that took the test.
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Mr. Gausepohl: So, you do not want to give him the roadmap to
pass the test unless they are suitable.
Mr. Rapozo: This person told me and whether or not it is true
but he told me that he was given no reason as to what part of the testing he failed.
Mr. Gausepohl: Yes, that is our policy. We do not release that
information. I can explain why.
Mr. Rapozo; Please, because I do not understand why. Every
test I failed, I was told why and we want to encourage them to...
Mr. Gausepohl: I understand and I agree that we want to
encourage them however if there is something in the background that we find that needs to
remain confidential, we do not want to express that therefore the policy is to not say
nothing and the law backs us up on that. HRS includes the fact that it is not something
that we need to do.
Mr. Rapozo: I understand. I am not going to argue but I
think the candidate deserves at least to understand what component or what part of the
testing that he did not pass. I can see if there is an issue in the background that cannot,
whatever...maybe he is wanted or something, but I mean if he did not make the suitability
test, what is the harm of telling him that he did not pass the suitability test?
Mr. Gausepohl: The harm is that we do not want to be specific
about what part they did not pass. If it is a matter of improving themselves, it is very
difficult to improve yourself on an MMPI, there is so many questions involved.
Mr. Rapozo: Suitability is not MMPI, right?
Mr. Gausepohl: It is part of it, yes. There are other tests as well
that come into play but if we start telling people, "hey, you failed this or that," then we
might compromise our system as far as confidentiality which is paramount. We are not
going to compromise confidentiality.
Mr. Rapozo: I just do not see the confidentiality if the person
you are telling is the person that failed. That is his privacy.
Mr. Gausepohl: I can explain that in another form.
Mr. Rapozo: We can do that later. Thank you. It is just
frustrating when you hear the stories about good people that we know in the community
that do really well in the community and they fail and they do not know why. I actually
heard that from two (2) different people from the last recruitment and I do not know what
to tell them. I mean, they can try again but I mean if you are...it is kind of rough if you do
not know where to improve yourself.
Mr. Perry: It is frustrating for us too because we know of
individuals that for many years that take the test and come through and we are looking
forward to getting them onboard but we cannot play favoritism like...
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Mr. Rapozo: Before...
Mr. Perry: Yes, like before. We cannot do that. We have to
stick to our policies, to the process, and so when I have to sign the letters of rejection, it is
really difficult. Then they ask me and then I have to say that I cannot disclose that
information, perhaps it was an issue with the drug testing, perhaps it was the polygraph, or
perhaps it was the suitability issue. There is a host of reasons why they do not go to the
next level and it pains me but that is the process that we are invoking today and it has been
very successful. They are allowed to take that test again.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay. Thank you. Anymore questions? If not,
Jesse Garal, who is representing SHOPO, is registered to speak.
JESSE GARAL, SHOPO Kaua`i Chapter Chairman: To my right is Seageant
Mark Ozaki, my Vice Chairman. Good afternoon Chairman Rapozo, Vice Chair Chock,
Councilmember Yukimura, and Councilmember Kagawa. It is our responsibility to be
fiscally responsible. I understand it is an issue regarding a collective bargaining but with
the salary increases, we are getting better candidates, more college graduates who are able
to pass the testing, and will be hopefully "not get into trouble" as those in the past because
everything...the level has risen. I commend Chief Perry, Deputy Chief Contrades for their
diligence in tightening up on the budget, and putting in what is needed, of course we would
always want to have more. I commend Mayor Carvalho and his staff, especially Steve, he is
under the gun with all the Departments. I just ask that this Council be receptive in the
Police Departments needs in providing safety for our community now as well as into the
future and also to include our tourist that come here and we want to provide safety for
them. We want Hawai`i to be not a place of crime but a true safety and place of aloha. If
you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Mr. Rapozo: Any questions? I am assuming SHOPO supports
the budget as presented?
Mr. Garal: Yes. I understand the challenges that the
Mayor's Administration...there has been some cuts made, I understand that along with all
the other Departments. Like I said, we are all here to be fiscally responsible.
Mr. Rapozo: And that is a tough challenge. Go ahead.
MARK OZAKI, Kaua`i SHOPO Vice Chair: Good afternoon. Just to capitalize
on that or to add to that. Yes, we know that 89% of the budget is salaries and we did just
get a raise, and the members are humbled by that. We thank you for your support. We want
to thank everybody that sees the value in law enforcement, sees the value in the police
officers, the value of the officers of the Kaua`i Police Department, and the value of public
safety. Retention and recruitment obviously is working thanks to those things. That is the
reason why we lobbied to get better salaries. To thank you guys even further, it appears
that you are not letting us getting better salaries take away from services. So, you are not
saying 89% of the budget is for salaries, well this is what you got then, this is what you ask
for. No, you are trying to add to services and that just shows your dedication to the visitors
and the residents of the island of Kaua`i. That is what all police officers want. We just
want public safety. By you not trying to take away the equipment, services, and supply
that we need to do our jobs, I just want to thank you very much for that.
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Mr. Rapozo: Thank you, sir. Any questions or comments for
either of the gentlemen from SHOPO? Go for it.
Ms. Yukimura: I just wanted to share that I really appreciate
your folks vision of Police force that...as your mission statement is focused on safety and
service. I think we are showing here on Kaua`i a different kind of relationship between the
police force and the community then as in a lot of other places. I just wanted to say that I
appreciate that. I also want to say that we have to look as Councilmembers not just at the
Police Department of the Fire Department and so we have a lot of services that we have to
provide that are outside of that arena and that is some of our challenge. I mean it is a
really big challenge whether it is affordable housing or public transportation, and parks;
those are things that affect our citizens as well as public safety. So, that is what we are
trying to make those balancing decisions and they are not easy. Then, there are the
issues of equity of salary throughout the whole County, so they are really hard issues but I
know the intention and desire on the part of SHOPO and the part of the Department are to
benefit our community. So, I appreciate that very much.
Mr. Rapozo: Anymore questions or comments? Go ahead.
Mr. Ozaki: One more thing, besides equipment and supplies,
you guys also support our prevention efforts. Our main effort at KPD is K-PAL and the
County has been a great support and hopefully you can continue supporting K-PAL and
hopefully we can keep kids out of jail and in playgrounds and gyms. Thank you.
Ms. Yukimura: I think we all want to say how much we
appreciate what K-PAL does because your program is extraordinary and it is reaching a lot
of kids. Thank you for that.
Mr. Rapozo: Anything else? Thank you very much. Anyone
else in the audience wishing to testify? If not, thank you very much. Any comments before
we close for the day? No comments? Okay, I will make my comments. Councilmember
Yukimura mentioned that we cannot just look at Police and Fire and that is so true. We
have so many Departments, needs, so many requests but I think for a long time now we
have been telling the Police Department, "wait in line and your time will come." As I sat on
this Council, we have expanded this County quite a bit and KPD has made some strides
within KPD themselves in this last few years with the recruiting efforts and the success. I
think their time has comes to get in front of the line, although I do agree with
Councilmember Yukimura that it is going to be tough this year. As far as the equity of
salary across the County, I mean, my highest pay in a year of KPD is less than what a
recruit makes today. I am not going to sit here and say that is too high. I think it is about
time they are getting what they deserve. My message everyone else that thinks it is not
equal, they can apply for Kaua`i Police Department and go be a cop and go see what you
guys see and do. They can. They can give up their desk job and be a cop. Then they will
understand why the salaries are justified for the Police or Firemen for that matter. The
firemen see just as ugly stuff. I think the pay is definitely on track. There will be a costs of
what I call"kicking the can down the road." We just keep kicking the can down the road. If
you look at the chart, you do not need to be a mathematician to understand that in 1990,
21,000 calls for service and then in 2013 over 40,000. That is a big huge jump, almost
doubled and yet the increase of beats, they increase of responding officers are not even close
to being in proportionate to that. Not even close. So, we hear it. I do. I hear the calls from
the community about the response time. It took them an hour and a half to two hours and
they do not know that when the officer arrests somebody that is crazy, they got to sit with
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them in the hospital for three, four, five hours. Babysitting them all night long. They do
not know that they are working on a rape or traffic accident which somebody died, they
want the service now but I think the message is this to the public, if we cannot support the
Police Department to the level that they need to be then we have made that decision to
accept the response times. We have made that decision to accept the fact that we are not
going to get the services that we used to. It is ludicrous to think we could when the
numbers of calls have doubled and the numbers of responding officers have not. That is
just...I mean...that is just the way it is. But the other affects or intangibles because it is not
tied to a dollar amount but it is retention, just basic community service. You saw the
picture in the opening slide where the officer was talking to the little kid and many of you
remember when that used to be common. The officer had time to stop at the businesses and
the town but they do not have the time anymore. When a visitor gets here and their car or
room gets broken into or something happens and it is an hour or so before the officer come,
that does not leave a good impression in their mouth and when they go back home they do
not remember the waterfall. What they will tell everybody about is, "my gosh do not ever
get your car broken into on Kaua`i because it will take hours for the Police to get there."
That is what they are telling their people. That is the cost of kicking the can down the road
and that is something that we have been doing for way too long. We as the community
make those decisions whether or not we are willing to support that level of service because
we cannot maintain or sustain the high quality of service that we once performed.
Although high quality, still, we just do not have the bodies to accommodate the needs for
service. It just does not work that way and we see it every year in budgets where other
Departments will come up and say, "because of an increase in building permits, we had an
increase in something else, justifies a new position here and there." Unfortunately, for the
Police one new beat is 8 positions. It is very expensive but so is recycling and we do not
hesitate to put the money away for recycling, or when the bus routes gets full, when the
bus gets full we make adjustments. We get more grants and do what we have to do to make
adjustments for the bus, or for Parks, and everything else but over the last 20 years, we
have made very little adjustments for the Police. I am going to end there because I am just
going to start getting emotional and I do not want to do that. That is my word for the day. I
think it is time that we really objectively look at what KPD needs. We are not going to do it
all in one year but if we do not start, we will never get to where we need to be. That is my
plea to my colleagues. With that, we will recess.
There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 4:29 p.m.