1 year after Maui wildfires, MPD officers still waiting for basic safety equipment

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The purchase of “go-bags” was one of the recommendations the Maui Police Department made for itself after the Lahaina disaster, admitting officers didn’t have basic equipment to keep them safe from the fire. Today, MPD officers are still without that gear.

For the past six months, HNN Investigates has tracked Maui Police Department’s efforts to provide training and obtain supplies critical to keeping its officers safe in a fire emergency.

While department leaders blame the delay on bureaucracy, the police union and the head of a government watchdog group says more could be done to ready officers for future disasters.

“Here we are one year after the tragic and devastating Lahaina wildfire and our officers are no more equipped or trained now to respond to a fire, than they were a year ago,” said Nick Krau.

The Maui Chapter Chair for the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers said MPD Chief John Pelletier has a very difficult job.

HNN Investigates

“He doesn’t have to just prepare our officers for fires. He has to prepare them for all types of emergencies. But it’s important to prioritize,” Krau said. “This type of equipment that’s necessary for officers to respond to emergencies. You know, there shouldn’t be such delay in obtaining funding for that.”

The Maui Police Department says it included its $108,000 ask for personal protective equipment including face coverings and fire resistant clothing in its annual budget request, which was just approved by the council about a month ago.

Now, before anything can be purchased, the department has to go through the procurement process.

Today, there’s still no timeline for when officers will have access to that safety gear.

Earlier this summer, the union pointed to Chief Pelletier’s pitch to the County Council for a helicopter program, asking why the chief didn’t approach the Council about the safety equipment sooner — and with that same passion.

In June, SHOPO spokesperson Dustin DeRollo told HNN Investigates, “The county has access to funding. It’s called a contingency budget in case things come up that they didn’t anticipate. They’re able to spend that money as soon as possible.”

On June 13, MPD leadership responded to that comment saying, “We wouldn’t ask for contingency funding if we could use budgeted monies.”

The union’s also been pushing for more fire training.

“There’s certain fires, putting water on them with a garden hose can actually make them worse,” Krau said. “We don’t know how to identify those different types of fires.”

Besides a two-day course given to recruits in the academy, the department says it doesn’t offer fire training.

“Our officers protect our cities and protect us. Sometimes though, it’s time for the citizenry to be their voices and help protect them,” said Camron Hurt.

The program manager for the government watchdog group Common Cause Hawaii added, “It’s a failure of priority that they’re not better equipped for an emergency situation.”

HNN Investigates asked the department if Chief Pelletier could sit down for an interview to discuss these issues.

A spokesperson responded, “Please refer to all of our previous responses regarding our ‘go bags’ which have been very explicit and does not warrant an interview with anyone in the department.”

It’s a response that doesn’t sit well with Hurt.

“This is a public interest story,” Hurt said. “For you to feel like there’s nothing that you could give to the public. There’s nothing that you could give to the officers who lay down their lives every day, when they put on their uniform, to help make them feel more secure.”

Meanwhile, Krau says he would like to see more collaboration between the union and department leadership.

”We should work together because it’s in the best interest of the community and it’s in the best interest of our officers,” Krau said.

The department did say it is working to coordinate some type of integrated training with the fire department focused on how to respond to what it calls “critical incidents.” An MPD spokesperson said it’s still in the developmental stages and that implementation is expected within the next year.

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