A bill ordering the Honolulu Police Department to share information with news outlets has passed through its final hearing at the Honolulu City Council, though some worry community reporting on social media will suffer.
Bill 46 could make HPD’s encrypted radio communications at least partially more accessible.
“The media and public's timely access to emergency-related information is essential to keeping the community safe from dangerous situations. … In releasing such information, however, the HPD must consider the need to protect certain information due to confidentiality, privacy laws, ongoing police investigations, or security breach threats,” according to the bill.
It would require the city’s police chief to come up with a plan and internal procedures to allow the “timely” release of information to the public.
That could allow local news organizations — and the public at large — to be more tuned in to crimes or other emergencies while they’re happening, according to proponents.
First responders’ radio frequencies were more accessible until 2022, when the city encrypted them.
Local news organizations have supported Bill 46 and pushed for more access to radio communications.
But local social media accounts could be left out, which some argue also inform the public about emergencies.
Before the bill was passed during a Wednesday council meeting, Waikīkī resident John Deutzman said some of the popular social media accounts can be better than news stations.
“This is public information that's already been pre-screened by the police department to eliminate sensitive information. … It should be available to the public, not just select media and one newspaper. And it should also be available to all these social media platforms that are doing a great job at breaking news — and they have a lot more followers than a lot of the TV stations,” he said.
The local Instagram account HHHNEWZ often posts breaking news and has 280,000 followers.
In a post following the passage of Bill 46, it said, “Now that the bill passed, independent journalists and community reporters are officially cut out of real time access. That means we must double and triple down as a community. … Information is being treated like a currency now, and the only way forward is for us to work together.”
The bill will now be sent to the mayor to be signed into law.
