Attorney General Mark Bennett said Gov. Linda Lingle sought and received from Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa and other law enforcement officials this morning "an unconditional commitment" that they would all "fight for legality and to protect all persons and property regardless of whether or not the illegality and the threat to persons and property occurs on state property, private property or county property."

Bennett, Lingle, Correa and other law enforcement officials met at the governor's office for about two hours to discuss their response to the taking over of 'Iolani Palace grounds by a Hawaiian sovereignty group Friday night.

The Honolulu Police Department has come under fire because witnesses said a police officer did nothing in response to an alleged assault on a female palace employee at the gates of the property. The officer, in a recording of the conversation that took place in the wake of the alleged assault, said the palace grounds were the jurisdiction of state law enforcement.

Bennett applauded the police for assisting when state law enforcement officers tried to stop the trespassers from breaking into the palace.

"When the cooperation of HPD was needed during the attempt by law enforcement to counter that illegal activity, we worked together," Bennett said. "We arrested more than 20 people who are going to be prosecuted. We had the cooperation at that time of HPD."

Bennett said the state is discussing the possibility of beefing up security on the palace grounds.

This afternoon, Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Correa also reiterated that there will be no boundary issues in the future.

"We ... were able to re-emphasize that there are no jurisdictional lines," Hannemann said. "That if a citizen indeed is in trouble, in harm's way and calls 911, the Honolulu Police Department will respond. It doesn't matter what property it occurs on. It is important for people to know that."

Said Correa: "If you call 911 ... we are going to respond, regardless, as the mayor said, of jurisdiction or status of the individual. We are not going to take into consideration, nor did we ever take into consideration, things like whether it's private property, or state property or city property. We will respond because our whole goal is to protect our people and to protect our property."