Editorial: Police shootings need close review

In Hawaii, police officer- involved shootings are relatively rare. But not this year.

So far in 2018, the Honolulu Police Department has had 11 officer-involved shootings, six of which resulted in a fatality. That eclipses the highest recent full-year counts in 2013 and 2014, with four officer-involved shootings resulting in two fatalities each year.

In the latest incident, a man was shot on Sunday morning, near state Health Department headquarters on Punchbowl Street, after striking an arresting officer with a machete. That evening, Acting Honolulu Police Chief Jonathon Grems held a news conference to underscore concern for “not only for the public and the folks being fired upon, but the officers as well.” He rightly urged the public to heed officers’ commands “so we can avoid these tragic situations.”

Such situations have long prompted reviews of police policies and training practices to look for adjustments that could curtail shootings. Today, however, post-shooting scrutiny should be more comprehensive, thanks to the recent addition of police body cameras, and the launch of the state-mandated Law Enforcement Officer Independent Review Board.

Given the grim upward trend, both are welcome moves. The public needs a clear understanding of how and why police officers use lethal force, and not just through a policy manual. A transparent review of specific incidents, in which officers may have to make split-second, life-or-death decisions, will inform the public on the effectiveness of department guidelines.

Body cameras, which capture audio and color video, became part of the uniform for about 30 downtown Honolulu and Chinatown patrol officers in mid-August. Other large American cities already have adopted the cameras in an effort to be more transparent in interactions with the public.

Within two years, HPD hopes to issue 1,200 cams, which are supposed to be activated by officers for every encounter with a member of the public. The latest incident was recorded on body-worn cams, and footage should be made public after HPD deems that release would not affect an investigation.

Recordings from the scene surely would be useful to the new Independent Review Board, established by the 2017 Legislature. Situated under the Department of the Attorney General, the board weighs “the fairness of investigations and determines whether criminal prosecution or further investigation is warranted.”

At its first meeting, held in June, the board picked up a recent case in which a man was shot and killed in a Waipahu apartment after reportedly waving a knife and lunging at an officer. This incident, like the one on Punchbowl Street, may have been triggered by mental health problems.

It’s a dilemma faced nationwide, with police officers increasingly serving as de facto front-line mental-health workers. It’s not a good situation, but as long as that role holds, officers should undergo continual training on how to defuse mental health emergencies without firing a gun, if at all possible.

Using a Taser to subdue someone who poses a threat offers a non-lethal solution; but even that has problems. Among the cases that prodded state lawmakers to approve the Independent Review Board was the 2015 death of a man near Iolani Palace who was darting in traffic on a busy street. Officers deployed pepper spray and then fired a Taser. The medical examiner concluded that a combination of the tasing and methamphetamine was the cause of death.

The man’s family filed a lawsuit, accusing officers of excessive force. And in July, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling cleared the way for the suit to proceed.

Hawaii’s police officers put their lives at risk every day, as July’s fatal shooting of Hawaii County police officer Bronson Kaliloa grimly demonstrated. At times, officers will need to subdue deadly threats with deadly force. The public has a strong interest in understanding how its police force handles these matters of life and death.