Bills on excessive police force, hike in fireworks fines advance in Hawaii Senate

Bills that would require law enforcement officers to intervene and report colleagues using excessive force and increase fines for fireworks violations passed out of the state Senate Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.

The latest version of Senate Bill 2801 — aimed at new requirements for law enforcement — is designed to “require greater accountability and transparency,” according to the bill.

It mandates that “a law enforcement officer has a duty to intervene if the law enforcement officer reasonably believes that another law enforcement officer is using unnecessary or excessive force on an arrestee,” and requires the officer to report the incident to the offending officer’s supervisor.

Law enforcement chiefs and directors also would have to submit annual reports to the Legislature.

The bill is opposed by the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, which submitted five pages of arguments against SB 2801, calling it “an attempt to appease and pacify a small group of activists who are anti-police and wish to defund the police.”

The bill does not take into account “the inherent dangers in our jobs that require split second life and death decisions that must be made under extreme duress,” wrote SHOPO President Robert “Bobby” Cavaco. “The bill also ignores the multi-layers of safeguards already in place that hold each and every county police officer accountable for their individual actions and omissions. … Officers will undoubtedly misconstrue what they may believe is excessive force because they may be unaware that the suspect had earlier brandished a gun or knife before the officer arrived at the scene.”

Cavaco also took a swipe at current and former legislators in his testimony, writing, “We have the same human frailties as our neighbors and yes some of us do make mistakes. We are no less human than the politicians arrested for drunk driving or who have accepted bribes, thus breaching the public’s trust.”

The committee also took up SB 2923, which would increase the maximum fine for fireworks violations to $5,000 from $2,000.

The measure received support from Steven Goble, chairman of the state Fire Council, the Honolulu and Maui County fire chiefs, the Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition, and several individuals also concerned with the proliferation of illegal fireworks.