POLICE ASK COUNCIL FOR MORE MONEY

HILO - Police pitched for more officers, equipment, training, and a higher
car allowance Friday when Hawaii County Councilmembers took up the
department's $36.5 million budget.

Four police commissioners joined a handful of police officers - including
Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna and SHOPO Hawaii Chapter Chairman Emory
Springer - for the council's budget review during a special finance
committee meeting.

Councilmembers are in the process of interviewing all county department
heads as they prepare to amend Mayor Harry Kim's suggested $218.6 million
budget.

Springer presented a letter to councilmembers, noting next year's police
budget doesn't increase the monthly mileage and vehicle allowance for 298
patrolmen and 98 detectives despite an earlier request by Kim to do so.

"We believe that police officers deserve an increase in their automobile
allowance since we have not seen a raise in this area in eight years,"
Springer wrote. SHOPO wants to increase the $2,274,288 car and mileage
allotment to the 396 officers by $475,200.

South Kona Councilman Joe Reynolds suggested police check into West Hawaii
Crime Stoppers President Alan Pratt's claim the county could save at least
$250,000 the first year police obtained a fleet of patrol cars rather than
receiving a subsidy to drive their own cars.

Mahuna took a stance against buying a fleet of patrol cars and the
elimination of the DARE program - servicing between 4,500 and 7,000 children
- - when that was brought up again Friday by Councilman Bob Jacobson,
representing South Kona, Ka'u and Puna.

Kohala Councilman Leningrad Elarionoff commended Mahuna for his stance on
keeping DARE since, in his district, it's "extremely needed, wanted and
appreciated."

The police chief did say there is a proposal in the works to combine DARE
and HI - PAL, an acronym for Hawaii Isle Police Activities League, which is
a preventative program designed to get the community involved in athletics.

Police Commissioners John Bertsch and Dwight Manago urged councilmembers to
allocate $200,000 for police training, since the police budget for training
has dwindled from $150,000 to $75,000 over the years and $500 of this year's
allotment is supposed to last police until the end of this fiscal year.

They also asked for $500,000 to be allocated for new equipment, noting there
are police officers in South Kona using typewriters to prepare reports and
one officer in Puna brought his home computer into the station in efforts
for police there to be able to do their work more efficiently.

Commissioners also asked for council's support not only for the mayor's
proposal for six additional vice officers to form an "ice" task force on the
island, but also 10 new training positions per year.

Manago, representing South Kona, said the police department loses an average
of 15 officers per year to either resignations and retirements. Last year it
lost 30 officers, many of whom took a state or federal agency post for
higher pay.

There are 35 police vacancies, costing the county a lot in overtime, he
pointed out. This year, $317,735 is expected to spent on overtime in Kona,
$137,213 in Waimea and $131,046 in Puna.

Manago said it takes 18 to 24 months, with training and the probation
period, to fill an officer's vacancy. A pool of trained officers to tap into
when there is a vacancy might relieve the county of "heavy overtime" costs,
he said.

He also suggested the county train a pool of dispatchers, as well, since
their overtime costs and attrition rates are even higher than police
officers.

Commissioners also urged the council to support two capital improvement
projects - new police stations for Puna and South Kona.

The mayor has pitched that $500,000 from an upcoming $36 million bond float
go toward the station in South Kona, and $1.1 million go toward a Puna
county complex, which is expected to include the police and fire departments
among other county offices there.