MEDIA RELEASE

To make it easier for West Hawaiʻi residents to participate in a public comment session about whether accreditation should be maintained for the Hawaiʻi Police Department, video teleconferencing will be provided in Kailua-Kona.

The video teleconferencing session will be held at the Mayor’s Conference Room located on the second floor of Building “C” at the West Hawaiʻi Civic Center at 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway. It will link public testimony in Kona with public testimony in Hilo beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday (July 14).

The Hilo session, originally scheduled for the County Council Chambers, has been moved across the courtyard to the Puna Conference Room (Room 1501) at the County Building at 25 Aupuni Street in Hilo. The room change is to better accommodate the video teleconferencing.

The sessions will be hosted by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA ®), which, as part its overall assessment of the Hawaiʻi Police Department, is seeking community input.

Commission representatives will arrive on Hawaiʻi Island on Monday (July 13) to examine the Police Department’s policies and procedures, administration, operations and support services. The purpose is to verify that the our Police Department continues to meet the 400-plus National Standards established for a law enforcement agency that are required for the department to maintain voluntary accreditation.

Public comments are encouraged.

Individuals who cannot attend the public information sessions in Hilo or Kona may phone in their comments to (808) 961-2270 on Tuesday between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

In addition, written comments may be sent to CALEA®, 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320, Gainesville, Virginia, 22030-2215 or through the CALEA® website at www.calea.org.

The comments are limited to the agency’s ability to comply with CALEA’s standards.

A link to the list of the CALEA® Standards the assessors will be reviewing to determine if the Hawaiʻi Police Department is in compliance is available on the “Accreditation” page of the Hawaiʻi Police Department’s website at www.hawaiipolice.com. A full copy of the Standards will be available for review upon request at both public comment locations. These National Standards, as they relate to the practices employed by the Hawaiʻi Police Department, are what the assessors are seeking the public’s input on during public testimony.

Of the roughly 23,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, the Hawaii Police Department is one of only about 1,200 that have been awarded CALEA Accreditation. The department was initially awarded accreditation on November 17, 2012.

For more information, you may call Lieutenant Kenneth Quiocho at 961-2260.