Investigate alleged police misconduct independently

The Honolulu Police Department’s refusal to charge a police sergeant in a violent altercation with his girlfriend that was caught on videotape highlights the urgent need for an independent review board to probe alleged police misconduct on Oahu. Police who responded to the Sept. 8 incident did not even file a report. Now, after the video leak spurred the rightful investigation, the police chief says there’s not enough evidence to bring a criminal charge against the sergeant.

The police sergeant in this case has been accused of domestic violence before, and was defended by the police chief’s lawyer wife, who is now a deputy prosecutor. If there ever was a case that called for an outside perspective, it’s this one.

Enemy of fruit fly could be a Trojan horse

When it works, biological control of pests can represent salvation for threatened crops or other species that need protecting. And it comes without exposing the environment to chemical pesticides, and that’s good.

But given that just about everyone has heard about the introductions of the rosy wolf snail and mongoose going awry, the need for extreme caution is obvious. So the state Office of Environmental Quality Control should give the proposed introduction of a new wasp to control fruit flies its full airing. A 2006 study found that in Hawaii, 22 perent of 243 agents attacked organisms other than the intended targets. Let’s be careful.