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No law requires removing
sunglasses to enter bank

Question: I'm trying to remember how many times this year I've opened the paper to see a blurry photo of a hatted, sunglassed individual wanted for bank robbery. When will Hawaii banks take responsibility for protecting their customers and their staff from these criminals? My children and I spent three weeks in Europe recently. There wasn't one bank or one money-exchange office that would allow anyone through their doors unless he/she removed any tinted glasses and hats. What a simple deterrent to those whose evil deeds depend on their not being recognizable! Let's get serious about crime prevention.

Answer: That would seem to be a simple way to discourage some would-be robbers.

However, local banks we spoke with say because there is no law -- federal or state -- requiring people to remove any headgear or sunglasses, they merely request that customers do so.

"The idea of having customers remove hats and dark glasses when entering a bank arose six or seven years ago," noted Stafford Kiguchi, spokesman for the Bank of Hawaii.

At that time, it appeared that about half of the robberies were being committed by people trying to disguise themselves, he said. Because of that, the Honolulu Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation "suggested posting signage asking people to remove such apparel" when entering a financial institution.

Bank of Hawaii doesn't force customers to remove hats and sunglasses because it's difficult to enforce such an absolute policy, Kiguchi said.

"We understand that some of our customers are light-sensitive and require sunglasses for medical reasons," he said. "We also know some customers, who are cancer patients, are more comfortable wearing a hat."

He did note that customers were asked to remove Halloween masks and would similarly be asked to remove any covering when employees cannot properly identify them.

Kiguchi said Bank of Hawaii relies on security personnel, as well as employees using their training and "good judgment."

"They are taught what to look for regarding suspicious activity, including appearance," he said. "However, we do not want employees to be confrontational in getting someone to remove their hat and sunglasses. If that person reacts violently, it could jeopardize customer and employee safety."

First Hawaiian Bank and Central Pacific Bank also said their policies are to request removal of hats and sunglasses.

Addresses of voters not 'public' information

It turns out that voter addresses are not a matter of general public record.

In the Nov. 1 Kokua Line, in response to a complaint about how political campaigns were able to get someone's telephone number, Honolulu City Clerk Denise DeCosta said specific voter registration information was considered public record, including a registered voter's name and address.

But no "personal information," such as Social Security numbers or telephone numbers, is given out, she said in that column.

However, state Sen. Les Ihara Jr. contacted Kokua Line to say that DeCosta's statement about addresses being part of the public record was incorrect.

Among the references he cited was an opinion from the state Office of Information Practices, dated April 2. That opinion says that the General County Register required to be maintained by each county clerk, and which contains, among other things, voters' name and address, "is not public under the Uniform Information Practices Act (Modified) ... when requested for purposes unrelated to 'government or elections.'"

Although DeCosta had said the names and addresses of registered voters, as well as those who voted absentee, were considered public record, she also said that that kind of information was released -- for a fee -- only to those with "an elections purpose or a legitimate government purpose," according to state law (Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-97).

DeCosta and Glenn Takahashi, the city election administrator who works with her, concede that, legally, voter addresses are not public record. But there may be some confusion about that because they are "semi-public," Takahashi said.

The law says only a registered voter's name, voter status and "district/precinct" are public.

"But any entity that has an election purpose, whether a political party, candidates, a PAC (political action committee), could get access to addresses," Takahashi said.

Those groups are able to use the voter lists to do political mailings, he said. "And on election day, you can see the names and addresses (of voters) up at the polling sites, he said.

So, addresses are "semi-public, in a sense," he said, "albeit the reason they're using it is because of an election purpose."

The difficulty is, "how do you tell the public that (addresses are) really technically not public, when they go to the polls and see it just posted up there?" Takahashi said. "That's where we run into the confusion."

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