Oahu residents will have a chance to tell an independent team of accreditors how they think the Honolulu Police Department has done meeting internationally recognized police policies, procedures and guidelines during a public comment session Wednesday.
An on-site accreditation team from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies will take public comment from 6 p.m. Wednesday at the HPD Career Conference Center, 715 S. King St., Room 500. Limited street parking is available. Telephone comments will be accepted at 479-5675 from 3 to 5 p.m.
People may also submit written comments to the commission’s national office at 13575 Heathcote Blvd., Suite 320, Gainesville, VA 20155; or at its website at www.calea.org.
Comments should address HPD’s ability to comply with the commission’s accreditation standards, not the performances or behavior of individual officers, which is the purview of the Honolulu Police Commission and HPD’s Professional Standards Office.
Accreditation is good for three years, and this is the third time HPD has sought reaccreditation. HPD first received accreditation in 2003 and was reaccredited in 2006 and 2009.
A copy of the CALEA standards manual is available for public viewing at HPD’s Office of Accreditation at the Alapai headquarters, 801 S. Beretania St., from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
The massive binder includes numerous chapters dealing with standards for recruitment, employee disciplinary and grievance procedures, patrol operations and criminal investigations, allocation and distribution of personnel, crime prevention and community involvement, victim/witness assistance, traffic operations and disseminating information to the public and media.
The manual is updated continuously. The fifth edition, issued in 2006, already has 12 amendments.
HPD expects to get a decision on reaccreditation this summer.
