The Honolulu Police Commission has selected David Lazar to be Oʻahu’s new police chief.
Five of the seven-member commission picked Lazar, who previously served as acting chief of the San Francisco Police Department. He had spent 33 years with the police department.
In his first comments to the commission after the vote, Lazar said, “I want to tell you how excited I am to work with the men and women of the Honolulu Police Department that do a good job every day.”
He added, “All they want is a strong leader who can come in, have their backs and support them, and contribute to wellness and contribute to morale, and support their families. I am going to do just that.”
Lazar doesn’t personally have ties to Hawaiʻi, but his wife is Native Hawaiian.
He beat out fellow finalists Mike Lambert, the director of the state Department of Law Enforcement, and Scott Ebner, chief of the Glenn County Police Department in Georgia.
Honolulu City Council Chair Tommy Waters, in a statement, said, “This was a difficult decision because the public safety stakes are high, and Honolulu needs leadership grounded in integrity, accountability, and trust. … HPD’s future depends not only on staffing and operations but also on restoring the sense of mission that attracts good people to public service.”
The commission praised all three finalists for chief and said they were all qualified to run HPD.
Lambert, the lone local finalist chief, was perhaps the most popular of the finalists, based on public testimony submitted supporting his bid.
The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers also supported Lambert.
