WALKING THE TALK

The City Council's committee on Public Safety met Oct. 1 to consider the
resolution from Mike Gabbard that the state fight drugs by dumping portions
of Hawai'i's Bill of Rights. On hand to testify in favor of amending the
state Constitution to reinstate the "walk and talk" and "knock and talk"
practices declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in 1992 were
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle and state Attorney General Mark Bennett.

U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo, in previous testimony to the Legislature, proclaimed
that the Supreme Court's decision had created a vacuum into which drug
dealers have rushed. However, testimony offered by the Honolulu Police
Department put the lie to the argument that the airport practices are
urgently needed. In fact, both practices are very much in use and legal
under federal law.

HPD testified that it continues to participate in airport "consensual
encounters" under the guise of having been deputized as part of federal task
forces. As for knock and talk, HPD testified that all it needs is a single
citizen complaint. Without probable cause and reasonable suspicion, HPD uses
the flimsiest of excuses to knock on any door.

In short, Carlisle, Bennett and Kubo are on a tear to amend our Bill of
Rights to reinstitute tools they are using but whose "absence" they cite as
a prime reason for their failure to do their jobs.

The Council Committee rejected Gabbard's draconian resolution, including the
amendment stuck in at Carlisle's request to specifically mention knock and
talk. However, it passed a more moderate but still dangerous "balanced"
approach suggested by Nestor Garcia that will go to the whole Council for a
final vote. Only Ann Kobayashi opposed the passage of Garcia's toned-down
version: "I've had family members dragged off [during the internment of
Japanese Americans] and feel strongly about keeping our Bill of Rights."