More than six years after it was created, the Hawaiʻi Law Enforcement Standards Board has yet to recommend rules for police chases of fleeing cars, so impatient lawmakers are taking on the matter themselves.
Several high-profile police pursuits in recent years have ended with injuries or even deaths of bystanders, costing taxpayers millions of dollars to settle lawsuits.
Absent a statewide policy template from the standards board, each Hawaiʻi police department has been left to create its own policy. So the Legislature is moving forward with House Bill 277 despite concerns from law enforcement. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to make a decision about the bill on Friday.
The proposal has kicked off a turf war between the Legislature, which wants immediate action, and the board, which was created in 2018 to draft statewide policy recommendations, certify officers and set training standards…