Chief: Officers performed well after Iselle

Police Chief Harry Kubojiri, at a Police Commission meeting Friday in Waimea, heaped praise on his officers for their actions during and after Tropical Storm Iselle.

The department is still tallying the costs of storm coverage, which includes a significant, if as yet unspecified, amount of overtime, stemming from officers working 12-hour shifts, particularly in the Puna District. Iselle brought down many trees, power lines and roofs, as well as blocked roads in lower Puna.

“The county will take on the burden of the cost, unless the federal government declares an emergency,” Deputy Chief Paul Ferreira said. “The governor is applying to the president to declare it a federal emergency.”

The department is anticipating that declaration being made, and already putting together a report detailing how many hours officers worked, Kubojiri added. That way, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency asks for that information, the department has it ready to turn over.

Police Commission Chairman John Bertsch said he wanted to see some FEMA reimbursement.

“At the end of the day, if you get 70 cents on the dollar, that’s fairly significant,” Bertsch said.

Kubojiri said officers across the island were well prepared for the storm. Some officers were unable to leave their properties initially, because of storm damage and downed trees, he said. Following the storm, Kubojiri pulled his Area I Criminal Investigations Division detectives off their regular duties, sending them in uniforms and marked police vehicles into Puna.

“There were reports, mostly on social media, of looting,” the chief said. “It was all false. That got the anxiety level of people elevated. To give them a level of comfort, we had visibility down there 24/7.”

Some officers were working while worrying about their own family members’ safety, he added. The department stationed its mobile command center in Puna and opened police stations there immediately following the storm, to allow officers a place to clean up and rest during their long shifts, particularly if they couldn’t easily get back to their homes.

“Overall, I think it went well from our perspective,” he said, noting Iselle was the first natural disaster he could recall that required a significant police presence and assistance afterwards, in addition to before and during. “I’m very pleased with the response of all our personnel.”

Commissioner Pete Hendricks questioned Kubojiri about images he saw on television of people in street clothes and rubber slippers cutting up fallen trees with chain saws. Hendricks said he was concerned about the safety of those people, and asked whether police officers receive special training on personal safety, particularly as it pertains to fallen power lines.

The training is fairly basic for that kind of response, Kubojiri said, and relies heavily on the officers using common sense around the downed power lines.

The situation in Puna was fairly chaotic, with lots of people trying to tackle the monumental task of clearing trees, he said. He knew of a group of Hilo residents who brought their chain saws into Puna and began cutting trees, only to be harassed and threatened by Puna residents. Other people, frustrated with Hawaii Electric Light Co.’s response time, also chipped in.

“You had a lot of people on their own trying to clear the roadway,” Kubojiri said. ‘They thought they were helping HELCO. A lot of times, they were impeding HELCO.”

Given all of that information, Hendricks said he was surprised more people weren’t seriously injured during the cleanup.

Bertsch wanted to know what lessons came from the storm and the followup, as well as anything the commission could do to help the department with future disasters.

The department worked hard to balance the need to be out in the community with the need to make sure officers didn’t burn out, Kubojiri said. While no response is perfect, he said his officers performed well this time around.

“We readily adapted to the situation as it arose,” he said. “There was nothing glaring.”

Email Erin Miller at emiller@westhawaii today.com.