Senate and House committees have rejected efforts that would have excluded thousands of current Hawaii police officers from oversight by the Hawaii Law Enforcement Standards Board, the agency launched nearly six years ago to oversee minimum standards and certification for law enforcement.
Proposals contained in the drafts of House Bill 2352 and Senate Bill 3041 would have excluded all current officers and new state and county recruits for the next two years from requiring board certification. That means they wouldn’t be subject to having their police license removed by the board for misconduct as the law now requires.
Such a move would have defeated “the purpose of consistent and uniform certification and decertification standards for all law enforcement employees in Hawaii,” ACLU of Hawaii’s Policy Director Carrie Ann Shirota wrote in Senate committee testimony.
The measures would have meant that “multiple generations of Hawaii law enforcement could not have their license suspended or stripped by the Board,” the NYU School of Law Policing Project said in written testimony.
The legislation would increase the number of law enforcement representatives on the board from two to five. Added to the four county police chiefs, that will tilt the resulting 17-member board more heavily in favor of law enforcement.
“That runs counter to the best practice of reserving at least one-third of Board seats for members that can meaningfully represent the communities most impacted by police misconduct,” the Policing Project wrote. In effect, that would involve increasing the number of public members to five or more.
The companion bills enable the governor to appoint the five law enforcement appointees and the four public members without the advice and consent of the Senate, effectively short-circuiting any potential public vetting of more than half the board membership.
There is also nothing precluding a governor from appointing people with a law enforcement background to the public positions, and the bills would require at least two of them come from a criminal justice, policing or security background.
Grandfathering In Serving Officers
The rule changes were supported by the Attorney General’s Office, where the board operates, and the Department of Law Enforcement. The clause excluding current personnel from certification was also included in the 2021 and 2022 version of the bills that failed to gain traction.
The provision would have required amending state law related to the employment of law enforcement officers. Board certification would not be required by officers who “entered into employment with the applicable county police department or state department before July 1, 2026, and termination of employment would violate any valid collective bargaining agreement,” the amendment reads.
Over 2,700 officers, not including new hires made up to July 2026, would have been exempted from the board’s minimum standards and requirements if the measures had passed.
Other changes outlined in HB 2352 and SB 3041 have progressed. The eight ex officio members including the attorney general and the four county police chiefs can appoint designees and member terms will be increased from three to four years.
The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, the statewide police union, opposed the legislation saying statewide certification would clash with current police training and accreditation by the counties and with collective bargaining agreements.
The Policing Project said that the collective bargaining issue could be easily addressed by requiring officers in Hawaii to be certified after the current agreement signed in 2021 expires in 2025.
SHOPO supports increasing the number of board seats for officers but says they should be rank and file union nominees approved by the governor. The union also wants chiefs to be required to participate and said there should be a dedicated board position for a SHOPO appointee for the purpose of “providing insight and input on training.” It supports Senate advice and consent for the public appointees only.
Asked for comment on public representation, SHOPO President Robert Cavaco said the proposed makeup of the Law Enforcement Standards Board has more public members than other professional licensing boards in the state like nursing and teaching “yet the same interest groups continue to pressure lawmakers into carving out more power for them. Once again, this is about trying to drive a wedge between the community and the officers who protect it rather than improving the overall law enforcement profession.”
Shirota said via email that the ACLU strongly agrees “with NYU Policing Project‘s recommendation to alter the composition of the LESB to include more community members, and less law enforcement to ensure transparency and accountability.”
The timeline for the standards board is intertwined with the intent of House Bill 1611 that would require officers decertified by the standards board to be reported to a nationwide database, a process that can only be undertaken when the LESB is fully operational.
HB 2352 and HB 1611 passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously on Wednesday and have no other committee referrals. SB 3041 was approved by the Senate Public Safety Committee last week and is awaiting a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Original article found at: https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/02/hawaiis-still-struggling-police-standa...