Gov. David Ige has signed a bill authorizing a split in the state Department of Public Safety (DPS), creating a new, Hawaii-wide policing agency that brings state law enforcement personnel under the administration of a Department of Law Enforcement (DLE).

The DPS, renamed the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, will continue to administer the state’s jail and prison system, along with related functions, which include rehabilitation and parole.

In theory, the split is a reasonable idea. It’s worthwhile to standardize training standards for the state’s law officers, and possibly even more crucial to place focus on the responsibilities and operations of the state’s correctional system. Concerns arise, however, over costs of developing an expansive training and operations center for the DLE, while ongoing serious problems persist within the correctional system that need immediate attention.

With a line-item veto, Ige has reduced the appropriation for a First Responder Technology Campus in Mililani, meant to house DLE operations, from $51.6 million to $16.6 million, noting that there is as yet no approved master plan to build out the campus. Without the availability of generous federal funding, it’s questionable whether any of this spending is justified — and federal funds won’t cover continuing expenses for this project, with its potentially costly features such as multiple low-rise buildings, a hotel and housing.

House Bill 2171, which creates DLE, also allocates $900,000 for its new director, other staff and to launch operations by January 2024.

Spending projections must be carefully scrutinized, with assurances that Hawaii is not committing to long-term costs that drain funding better applied elsewhere.

Additionally, it would be a miscarriage of justice to lose focus on the new Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which sorely needs leadership and funding to reverse decades of neglect and substandard operations. Overcrowding, poor conditions and inadequate staffing are major concerns — and these risk spilling into the public safety of outside communities.

Just last month, correctional officers raised the alarm about continued overcrowding and understaffing leading to extended shifts, which they warned could place both inmates and officers in danger. Yet in March, disagreement over the size and scope of a proposed new Oahu Community Correctional Center led to a standstill in efforts to replace the deteriorated 47-year-old OCCC in Kalihi.

This month, three prison guards on Hawaii island were convicted of violating the federal civil rights of an inmate — a polite way of saying that these guards beat and kicked a man about his head and body as he lay prone in a pool of blood, then conspired to lie about the incident.

Fallout continued over a damaging 2019 riot at an overcrowded Maui jail, as a report on the inmate uprising was continuously delayed. Repairs and construction of a new medium-security unit are pending.

Early this year, a jury awarded the father of a Halawa inmate who committed suicide in 2017 more than $1 million because the inmate wasn’t properly monitored. Disturbing testimony revealed that the mentally ill inmate was isolated and threatened with punishment for self-harming behavior.

Meanwhile, current reports of continuing COVID-19 outbreaks in facilities statewide signal ongoing, unhealthy conditions.

The bifurcation of responsibility authorized by HB 2171 might lead to some improvements. State officials testified that separating out corrections and parole services from law enforcement would allow for greater attention to corrections services and rehabilitation. The law creates a deputy director position to oversee rehabilitation services and programs; this can be a true asset, if high standards and expectations are applied to the position.

However, correctional system reform is clearly at a fledgling stage. Our next governor must take the initiative to do better, as a dehumanizing, ill-managed correctional system does not serve the state’s interest in either public safety or rehabilitation.