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Thank you, Glen, for stating what should be obvious to most of us. Puna is shortchanged when it comes to police resources, just as it is in so many other areas of public services and infrastructure. We have a history of apathy and ineffective political representation that has allowed this to go on for decades.
As a Neighgborhood Watch chairman, I have had occasion to work with the police and hear many citizens relate their experiences with them. The majority of our cops are good people who serve to the best of their ability under conditions that make the job very hard to do and the public hard to please. There are a few who do the least they can to get by, like in any profession. There are some who occasionally display a bad attitude, like any human being will sometimes do. Overall, they are OK.
Bottom line is we need more cops in Puna. The quality is there for the greater part, but the quantity is lacking.
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I have a friend who just graduated the academy and recently went into service for HPD...
He said its NOT for lack of people wanting to join or numbers BUT when they run a credit checks and people have spotty credit, thats one of the numero uno disqualifications...
He told me you have to have EXCELLENT credit in order to get in. Maybe if they eased up, more cops, better response times, etc...
Mind you, this is him speaking so I dont not know if thats the case. But, I can believe that because "bad credit" does not necessarily mean bad person or irresponsible person. There can be many factors...
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It is believed that bad credit can make a person more susceptible to corruption, presumably as you are more likely to be in dire economic straights. I also understand that there is no economic incentive for experienced cops from outside jurisdictions to apply.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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Cops are people, some better than others and some worse. My experience here has been positive. I called in an abandoned or stolen vehicle on a vacant lot (we walk the dogs a lot) and the police were there within the hour. One of those dogs, the puppy, figured out how to get into the house and set off the alarm, the police beat me to my house. Again, they all differ, just like you and I, but my personal experience has been good.
It would be great as suggested above to have more police for such a large area. And yes, for that I'd be willing to pay more in taxes.
Cheers,
Sean
See you in the surf
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Of course it takes a long time for them to respond they travel in a caravan like wagon train. So when you see three or four cops for a traffic stop/citation, you can be rest assured the rest of Puna is cop free. So peddle to the metal !
In my own opinion they use lethal force too much and are trained to do so. The old days when a large tough burly cop takes down a robber, assailant, suspect by themselves are long gone, consider yourself lucky if you are only tazered, beats a being plugged by a 9mm.
Case in point about 2 yrs ago; petty thief/criminal makes a break from county jail van in downtown Hilo. Result; shot in the back of the head dead. Does the punishment fit the crime ? About a 34 yr old young guy and father shot dead by a corrections officer. I think he would have been picked again with APB put out on him. I'm not for more cops in Puna I'm a whole different way of using the cops we have.
One more example; Rohnert Park, California, wife calls police because husband is in driveway, very drunk and waving stick around and yelling, cops show up and shoot him dead, wow i guess he learned his lesson. I know the wife did, she was very distraught and stated she regretted calling the police, no drunk tank for her husband nope it's the morgue.
I can only think carefully about what you wish for !
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An anecdotal story like the one you have told, green, doesn't prove anything. It is what it is, an anecdote. We don't even have the full story, just the part told by you. We can't tell if there were other circumstances which might have come into play. I'm not dissing you, just suggesting that calls to react emotionally don't help resolve real problems.
A real problem is that we have only seven officers per shift, to cover a land area that is 5/6th the size of Oahu.
That is up from 3 per shift just about 10 years ago. Another thing is that the attitude of the police officers on the force today is just about 180 degress away from what it was 10 years ago. And to a great extent the attitudes of law abiding citizens towards the police officers has changed in that time , too.
We have one officer per car, so they usually try to arrive at least in pairs. The train effect happens when serious or potentially life threatening situations occur. Many times when I have called for police assistance as a member of Kahakai Neighborhood Watch, one patrol car has responded. Sometimes I have seen one officer leave a scene which was stable to go to another one, leaving one officer alone. There are many issues to deal with concerning the police department, but let's not burden them or ourselves with nonexistent ones just to make chatter. Find out facts before trying to make a point. We all need to be vigilant of those to whom we give the power of deadly force, but when we put out less than factual information, we ultimately weaken our own ability to be vigilant.
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Actually many employers do a credit check on people (I would say nearly all but the small mom and pop companies), and many disqualify applicants for jobs based on those findings without ever having to reveal to the applicant why. Another reason to be responsible about paying your bills! If you have to put your social security number on an application, you can bet that they can do a credit report on you. It also gives past addresses etc, which can verify other things on your application/resume.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
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quote:
Originally posted by Devany
Actually many employers do a credit check on people (I would say nearly all but the small mom and pop companies), and many disqualify applicants for jobs based on those findings without ever having to reveal to the applicant why.
This is a very important item. Under federal law, the employer must tell you they ran a credit check, with whom, what information was in it that resulted in an adverse action, and give you an opportunity to challenge that information if wrong. Since that can force a company to keep a job unfilled while a prospective employee challenges their credit report, or prevent a company from terminating an employee based on that credit report, most employers will claim their decision was based on something other than the credit report.
So you have a home foreclosure on your report, the employer sees that, decides you’re not for them, so you don't get the job or loose your job. Instead of saying it’s the foreclosure, (which triggers requirements under the FCRA) they say there was a more qualified candidate or your position was eliminated due to budget. You may never know that the foreclosure was the sole reason for not getting or loosing a job. And if the decision was based on something wrongly reported, you'll never know that less you’re checking your own credit report.
I suspect that many have not gotten jobs due to their credit report but never knew that was the real reason.
If you look at, or speak to police administrators responsible for selection, they will tell you that some negative things on your credit report will result in not getting hired.
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So couldn't you just ask any employer that denied your app. if they ordered a credit check, even if the employer never brings it up?
Also, don't these credit checks ding your score? Especially if you have a lot of them that result from applying for multiple jobs?
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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You can ask and they may just say "we ordered the report but never reviewed it since we found a more qualified applicant", or, "we order the report as a routine employment requirment, but since you position was eliminated, we never looked at it".
Credit reports ran for employment purposes (there is a way to identify that) or for regulatory purposes (regulated industries), do not count against you or impact your credit score.
The problem is how do you know if the credit report was the reason for some adverse action?
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