Posts Tagged ‘HPD’

From terrible management to poor equipment, a recent audit of the Hawaii Sheriff’s Department found that the department is so bad from top to bottom, that even the public’s safety is in jeopardy.

The problems start at the very top and trickle down. It all begins with poor leadership, and then that flows right down the mountain to everyone else. This in turn leads to a department that just is not run very well and in some cases, doesn’t care.

State Sen. Will Espero – who is chairman of the Public Safety and Military Affairs Committee, called the audit “eye-opening” last week and said it underscored what he has heard before. “I’ve heard complaints and concerns from deputy sheriffs, and one concern they’ve had is they feel they are the stepchild of the department,” Espero said.

Complete Audit Findings

This is not the first time that members of the department and outside Senators have complained about what is going on at the Sheriff’s Department. Many of them say they have heard rumors for a while now, this massive audit just confirms the truth.

From poorly defined roles, to a lack of mission clarity, the department is struggling in every leadership aspect that was audited. Add on to this that they have over 50,000 backed up bench warrants, along with poor/old equipment, and you have a department that could be better run by a 10^th grader.

We all witnesses the mess that Hawaii got itself into – and is now trying to pull itself out of, that Furlough days created in the school system, now we are going to sit back and see what it does to the Police system.

This does not seem as bad at first glance, so hopefully it won’t be. Public safety should not be an issue because 2,000 sworn-in Police officers are not subject to the Furloughs, however there are over 450 HPD civilian workers that will be Furloughed 2 Fridays per month – with no pay.

The safety issues should not be a problem, the things that the public will recognize are the longer waits in line for police reports, background checks and records, as well as firearms registration, on furlough days. The public should also take in consideration that special-duty requests won’t be considered on the scheduled Furlough days.

Honolulu firefighters and paramedics will remain unaffected by the Furloughs. City lifeguards are taking a 5% pay cut, but will be on the job everyday.

Honest to goodness.  Or at least that’s what our twitter feed is stating.  The police setup a sobriety check point shortly after 5 pm on Ala Moana Blvd near Restaurant Row in downtown Honolulu stalling traffic for literally miles.

Check out these pictures, crazy!  These were shot before 6 pm.  There were well over 20 cops there, reporters, etc, and cars were being pulled over.  Maybe it was a seatbelt, cell-phone, sobriety check-point?  Whatever it was, could they have picked a better time to spend out tax payer dollars?

Really, you would have though the president was in town.   If anyone has any more information on this please leave a comment or shoot us an email.  Pretty wild for rush hour after work.

As a dog lover and dog owner, I was completely astonished to hear the latest news story on Honolulu Police Department giving citations to dog owners walking their leashed dogs along Kapiolani Park in Honolulu.

HPD says that there had been recent complaints to them about dogs in Kapiolani Park.  As most people know Kapiolani Park is not a pet friendly park, like most City and County parks and beaches on the island it prohibits dogs.  What most people don’t know is that there is an area of sidewalk that runs along Kapiolani Park that also included in this no dogs allowed law.  The “sidewalk” is actually considered part of the park and also prohibits dogs.  Last week Friday, September 25, 2009 HPD ticketed a handful of dog walkers who walked thru this area of sidewalk.  This citation that was issued is a criminal offense, considered a petty misdemeanor prohibiting animals in parks.  This citation is not simply a fine, but does require a court appearance.

The island of Oahu does have many off the leash dog parks that owners can take their dogs to.  The problem with this story is that the parties that were ticketed for the offense did not have their dogs off the leash and running around Kapiolani Park.  The parties were simply walking their dogs on the sidewalk.  When has it been a crime to walk your leashed dog?

Everyone has enjoyed the island’s public parks and beaches and have taken the time to read the signs prohibiting various items.  A few of those items besides no animals include: no alcoholic beverages, no camping, and no fires.  I think we would all like to see HPD crack down on these more serious offenses that the general public violates on a regular basis.  These violations can lead to drunk driving, the homeless camping in the parks and beaches, and arsonists.  HPD could spend their time more wisely monitoring those park and beach violations rather than ticketing responsible pet owners for exercising their dogs thru one stretch of sidewalk.

The local dog community was appalled by this story and have voiced their opinions on pet community websites and some are even starting petitions to over turn this ridiculous situation.