STAND. COM. REP. NO. 304

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 199

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 199 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds as a grant-in-aid to each county for the purchase of body-worn video cameras and law enforcement vehicle cameras to be used by each county police department; provided that no funds appropriated to a county shall be expended unless matched dollar-for-dollar by the county.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from American for Democratic Action, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Remington College Honolulu Criminal Justice Student Coalition, and fourteen individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that with the recent incidents involving law enforcement officers and public perception that unnecessary force was used, the use of body-mounted video cameras and law enforcement vehicle cameras provide law enforcement officers and civilians with added security in their actions.  Law enforcement officers and civilians who are aware that they are being videotaped are more likely to behave in a calm manner, and body-worn video cameras and law enforcement vehicle cameras help ensure the safety of the public and increase law enforcement effectiveness and transparency.  Implementation of this measure promotes transparency, accountability, and protection for law enforcement officers and civilians.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 199 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair