Police, who by definition shoulder a dangerous duty, now find themselves on Oahu working in an environment where tensions have been ratcheted up. One factor is the chronic staffing shortage, which could add considerable stress over time. The other is the public access to firearms, due to the relaxed regulations through court rulings and the availability of unregistered (“ghost”) guns.
Everyone got a stark reminder of this issue on Tuesday following a barricade situation that culminated in police fatally shooting a 32-year-old man in Pearl City. That episode vividly underscores the hazards faced by police and the public.
Addressing both the staffing issue and the heightened risks of violence, city has taken needed corrective steps — but more work lies ahead.
As an important start, the $3.41 billion operating budget Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed Friday correctly ranked an improvement in public safety among the city’s top concerns.
That priority was shown through an increase in funding for the Honolulu Police Department operating budget. The $354 million total represents a $43 million increase over the previous year, with $35 million directed to cover patrol costs. Combined funding for public safety and health comprise more than 17% of the budget.
Raising the profile of police — especially in areas where violent incidents have added to neighborhood anxieties, such as the West Side, Chinatown and Waikiki — is critical.
But the Pearl City case has raised questions that, for its part, HPD must answer. In this incident, it was not the suspect’s own weapon, but his ability to seize a police firearm left unguarded, that led to his death.
A police rifle was left unattended on a residential balcony next door to the home where the suspect had broken in to search for his ex-girlfriend. The man, Nathaniel Filimoni Taualai, picked up the rifle and reportedly prepared to open fire. The fatal gunshots from police officers followed.
The department has opened criminal and administrative investigations into how the responding officers handled the situation.
ACLU of Hawaii fired off a statement sharply criticizing “weapons security practices, policies on body-worn cameras, and the escalating incidence of police use of force across the state.”
Until the circumstances for the unattended weapon are known, it’s hard to draw conclusions about what procedures should have been in place to avoid the fatal outcome in this case. Further, appropriate use of body-worn cameras is complicated because the police response included plainclothes officers.
According to a report on 2022 police cases released in May, incidents requiring some use of force represented less than 1% of calls for service.
Police training officials rightly note the rarity of the cases and assert that officers base their use-of-force decisions on the level of resistance they encounter at the scene.
Still, there is good reason for police to check, and recheck, HPD policies on use of force. Another study, this one compiled by faculty at the University of Hawaii Department of Sociology, acknowledged the small percentage of cases involved but found that the incidents increased from 706 in 2010 to 2,646 in 2021.
Police are thrust into unpredictable encounters with the public that have grown increasingly fraught with risk — and must handle all that, difficult as it is, in a way that preserves life.
The increased resources for that pursuit are amply justified. However, the public, through its advocate, the Police Commission, needs to track how well HPD reflects its motto: “serving and protecting with aloha.”
