Mayor Rick Blangiardi would support a charter amendment giving whoever is the Honolulu mayor the ability to hire and fire the city’s chief of police. He also appears open to changing how the chiefs of the city’s fire and ocean safety departments are picked.
A spokesperson for Blangiardi confirmed his stance on appointing a Honolulu Police Department chief, saying in an emailed statement, “The Mayor is asking for the Office of the Mayor to be involved in the process — not necessarily himself, but the office as a whole.”
The discussion over who should have that authority follows this week’s announcement that Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan will retire at the end of the month.
How does the process work right now?
The power to appoint HPD’s chief currently belongs to the seven-member Honolulu Police Commission, which is made up of civilian volunteers appointed by the mayor and approved by the Honolulu City Council.
The ability to hire and fire the chief is one of the oversight group’s most important tools for keeping the police department in check.
But even with that authority, some people argue that the commission doesn’t have many other oversight options, and question how much the commission can actually accomplish.
The commission, for example, can only provide recommendations on HPD’s budget and policies, and its own budget is controlled by the department.
Another criticism over the years has been that commissioners have been hesitant about exercising what oversight abilities they do have over the department.
All the other county police departments in the state have oversight commissions with the power to appoint and fire their chiefs.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office also suggested that Blangiardi is open to changes to the Honolulu Fire Department and Ocean Safety Department, both of which have commissions with similar authorities over their respective chiefs.
“Ultimately, we want a process that works best for all three departments: Police, Fire, and Ocean Safety. We’re still working through what that will look like,” the mayor’s office said in its emailed statement.
A charter amendment could give Honolulu’s mayor more authority, but such amendments have to be placed on ballots and ultimately decided on by Oʻahu voters.
Search for the next leaders begins
Meanwhile, the commission has started discussing the search process for a new interim and permanent chief for HPD.
It’s currently in the process of a scheduled evaluation of Logan’s job performance, but with his tenure coming to an end, the commission wants to move quickly to find his replacement.
" I would urge the commissioners to not let the fact that we are going to continue with the evaluation take us off-focus from the imperative that I think we're all feeling to be as proactive as possible in terms of the next steps,” said Commissioner Doug Chin. “We want to make sure that there is no delay on the process for interim, and then also the process that will be used for permanent selection.”
Logan’s departure and replacement process wasn’t part of a scheduled commission meeting Wednesday. Chair Kenneth Silva said it would be part of its June 18 meeting.
He called for prospective applicants for the interim police chief job to submit their resumes to the commission’s office at 1060 Richards St. by end of day June 13.
Blangiardi has made public his support for Hawaiʻi Police Department Chief Ben Moszkowicz to serve as interim chief.
