HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Honolulu Police Department told commissioners this month that it has not added any additional ethics training despite the City Auditor’s recommendation. HPD said its existing ethics training includes four hours of training in the police academy and annual training for officers along with the City’s training every two years.

“It’s a component that we have that’s still sufficient. But, could we implement something outside of that? The answer is obviously yes, commissioner,” Honolulu Police Department said.

Advocates for additional training said it should be required.

“I guarantee that the amount of time that they spend on the range for firearms training annually is more than four hours or one in service per year,” said Scott Greenwood, ACLU Hawaii Executive Director. “Ethics is something that has to be taught not just once, but reinforced.”

Meanwhile, annual police misconduct reports from each county are being released. The 2022 Hawaii County police misconduct report lists 23 violations involving officers cited for harassment, improper use of force, DUI and abuse of a household member.

The consequences range from a 20 day suspension to being fired. However, compared to past years, the department said it’s seeing improvements.

“One of the biggest things with discipline is we want to correct the behavior,” said Andrew Burian, Hawaii Police Department Asst. Chief.

Lawmakers said these annual police misconduct reports are important for public transparency as well as providing insight to county police departments on areas for improvement.

“I think we need to invest more into our training programs so that officers don’t end up on the list for misconduct or suspension,” said Sen. Brandon Elefante, (D) Senate Public Safety Committee Vice Chair.

There could be some new regulations when it comes to police misconduct in Hawaii.

Honolulu and Kauai Police Department’s reports are pending. The Maui County Police Department has published its report.

“There are bills on it this year making sure that when an officer is engaged in some sort of misconduct or improper use of force that other officers there have a duty to intervene, and you don’t have situations like George Floyd,” said Sen. Chris Lee, (D) Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawaii Kai.