02-02-2010, 08:49 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Tucker
DLNR is a relatively useless organization. Inefficient, overstaffed, overpaid and arrogant. Over the years I have had occasion to contact them on some issues. Never ever received a response in writing or by phone to anything. What ever their budget is it should certainly be cut seriously before school days are curtailed.
Just my humble opinion of course.
Aloha Rob,
I felt compelled to respond to your post, in spite of the fact that I will probably get flamed here, LOL.
I am one of the DLNR Enforcement officers in the "useless organization". I am curious as to whom and how you contacted, and what was the nature of your issues. I do know that DLNR like all state (and other govt. agencies) agencies is certainly inefficient. Overstaffed? Not our division. We currently have less than 20 officers in the field to serve the entire island and the surrounding waters out to 12 miles (200 if you count the federal jurisdictions that we deal with) 24/7. Overpaid? Sadly, this is not the case either. We have to possess all of the knowledge that the typical HPD officer has, and having to patrol just like they do (with the addition of waterborne patrols and lengthy off-road patrols into the most remote areas of the island), we also have to have knowledge of various state and federal laws and rules that HPD never has or will deal with. We are statistically more likely to encounter armed violators and are often alone in areas where backup is next to impossible. We also investigate all of our own cases, as we have no detectives to pass anything along to. Despite all that, we are paid significantly less than the county police officers. Our ability to respond has also been affected by the fact that we are furloughed like all the other state workers. Arrogant? You know there is some truth to this. Have you ever seen any bunch of people that did not include some arrogant ones? Dealt with any HPD officers that were a bit arrogant? I have.
Our budgets have been cut along with everyone else's. In fact, since I have been with DLNR, it seems every year there are cuts.
Each and every complaint that comes to me that has a call back number gets one. I can't speak for the other divisions of DLNR, but if you call the Enforcement division, you will get a response, if you leave contact information.
Should you have a future issue with DLNR in east Hawaii that needs enforcement you can contact me at 960-8977.
Sorry for the long post, Andy