Gov. David Ige is proposing the creation of a statewide law enforcement agency to streamline and help coordinate multicounty investigations, public-safety activities and training.
The agency would unify data and operational systems on a shared network and help improve the efficiency of statewide law enforcement operations, according to Ige’s administration.
“Hawaii is the only state in the country that does not have a centralized state law enforcement agency,” said Ige in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “The creation of a new State Department of Law Enforcement will consolidate and streamline emergency response, criminal law enforcement, and investigation functions of the state under one independent law enforcement department.”
The DLE would centralize command and control for critical incident management, provide additional resources for other law enforcement agencies and standardize training and report writing. It would provide interoperable communications and operational flexibility, making statewide law enforcement operations more efficient. DLE officers would have the ability to handle complex multi-island investigations.
State lawmakers previously considered the creation of a statewide law enforcement agency consolidating the Sheriff’s Department, investigators with the Attorney General’s Office and other enforcement and investigative resources. But last year’s measure did not pass, in part due to pushback from county police departments.
State Sen. Clarence Nishihara, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, told the Star- Advertiser the administration’s proposal would consolidate existing state criminal law enforcement units, like Sheriff’s Department deputies, harbor police, Division of Conserva- tion and Resources Enforcement officers and others into a single entity. The DLE would standardize and make consistent job requirements and training for police officers in every county.
“Right now, as it is, there is no consistency between the county police and state police,” said Nishihara. “HPD (Honolulu Police Department) believes they are the gold standard for this kind of training, but if you look at like HPD, and officers getting into trouble, you have to wonder what kind of gold standard they are talking about. It feels tarnished right now.”
Interim Honolulu police Chief Rade Vanic told the Star-Advertiser that HPD’s training is consistent with the standards and recommendations of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police and International Association of Directors. HPD routinely reviews and updates policies and also brings in subject matter experts and community partners to train personnel.
Many of the potential benefits that a statewide law enforcement agency would bring about already exist, he said.
“We already have established working relationships and inter-operable communications with federal, state and county agencies on O‘ahu. We also already have a centralized command and control for critical incidents and routinely provide assistance to other counties and agencies when requested. Our island-state geography poses specific challenges to creating a statewide agency. Each island/county may have issues that are unique to their geographic location and population,” said Vanic. “It may be difficult to have a centralized command center on an island different than where the incident is occurring (i.e., a command center on O‘ahu dealing with lava flow on Hawaii island or vice versa, heavy rains and flooding on Oahu but command center on another island). This could potentially lead to increased and unnecessary logistic requirements.”
The State Of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, the union representing all Hawaii officers, will consider Ige’s proposal but believes recruit training should be handled by the respective county police departments.
Streamlining the delivery of public-safety services at the state level could assist local law enforcement agencies to free up much-needed resources to address a serious police officer understaffing crisis, SHOPO President Robert “Bobby” Cavaco told the Star-Advertiser.
“Our recruit training embodies best police practices that include de-escalation, duty to intervene, implicit bias, safely managing a mental health encounter and proportional use-of-force. The training provided to our officers is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) and meets or exceeds their high standards,” said Cavaco. “We believe the training of police officers should be conducted by each respective department’s training experts. We also strongly support our recruit and ongoing officer training to continue to be accredited by CALEA. SHOPO is supportive of additional training for our officers to ensure our skills do not diminish.”
Kauai police Chief Todd Raybuck told the Star-Advertiser said he has not yet seen the administration’s proposal for the state Department of Law Enforcement.
“I look forward to the opportunity to learn more about the state’s plan. KPD works closely with and has a good working relationship with all of our state law enforcement partners and we will continue to work together to provide the best public safety services we can in our community regardless of how the state’s law enforcement department is organized,” said Raybuck.
Hawaii police Chief Paul Ferreira and Maui police Chief John Pelletier did not respond to Star-Advertiser requests for comment.
Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm told the Star-Advertiser he supports Ige’s proposal and believes standardized report writing and police officer training would help prosecutors.
“A statewide agency can provide consistent training to its officers, implement standardized criminal reports that will be helpful to prosecutors, and foster greater cooperation between the State and the City’s law enforcement agencies. If such an agency is created, I pledge to work closely with its leaders to keep Honolulu safe,” said Alm.
Max Otani, director of the Department of Public Safety, supports Ige’s proposal.
“The Department of Public Safety acknowledges that there is proposed legislation to create a separate Department of Law Enforcement within the state. However, PSD respectfully reserves further comment until the bill is introduced,” said Toni Schwartz, public information officer for the Department of Public Safety.
According to the Ige administration, it is too early to tell whether the agency would occupy the 240-acre First Responder Technology Campus, an idea that state lawmakers advanced in prior sessions that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop.
Government agencies committed to help produce the campus include the Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Fire Department, city Department of Emergency Management, state Department of Public Safety, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, two divisions of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the University of Hawaii, the Federal Fire Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Office of Homeland Security Investigations.
Early plans for 90 acres of the campus include an indoor shooting range, outdoor training facilities featuring structures to practice tactical raids and rescues, an obstacle course, a rappelling tower, running track and vehicle driving course. Amenities in the proposal include a fitness center, a competition swimming pool and locker rooms, as well as retail space, a community center and a cafeteria with a kitchen staff that includes a nutritionist.
A three-piece lodging component would comprise a 150-bed hotel for visitors, a 100-bed dorm with shared bathrooms for recruits, and 400 to 500 workforce housing apartments for employees, trainees and residents from the surrounding community.
About 150 acres would remain mostly undeveloped and accommodate Hawaii National Guard search-and-rescue training.
