City lawmakers and police advocates want to improve the Honolulu Police Commission's process for hiring a new police chief.
The Honolulu City Council is moving along a resolution that would require the commission’s vetting process to include obtaining and reviewing references from candidates’ peers, supervisors and subordinates, and completing background checks and performance evaluations.
The resolution would also urge the commission to ensure its process “incorporates input from representatives of rank-and-file police officers to define desired candidate attributes and experience and to participate in the vetting process.”
Nick Schlapak, the treasurer for the State of Hawaiʻi Organization of Police Officers, said that the proposed changes would be important to its members.
“For too long, the process to hire a chief has been done without meaningful input from those who know best, which are the men and women who are the rank and file officers of the department. And this resolution actually changes that,” Schlapak said during Thursday’s hearing. “For the first time, frontline police officers would have a real chance to have their voices heard, and that's important.”
SHOPO, the state’s police union, has about 2,000 combined members from Hawaiʻi’s four county police departments. Three of those departments are currently looking for a new chief.
In August, SHOPO presented a report to the Honolulu Police Commission on what officers were looking for in a new chief. It polled about 580 HPD officers, and found that their top priorities in a chief are someone who advocates for the needs of front-line officers, and would defend them from the mayor and the Honolulu City Council.
The polled officers were also interested in a chief who is in touch with the day-to-day parts of the job and fosters good morale within the department.
The officers also want the new chief to be experienced in working in the field as an officer, overseeing at least a mid-sized police department, and working with unions.
