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A proposal to give the mayor the power to hire and fire Honolulu’s police chief was killed Tuesday by a City Council committee.
The job of hiring and firing the chief will continue to rest with the seven-member Honolulu Police Commission, which is appointed by the mayor and approved by the Council.
Councilman Ikaika Anderson’s Resolution 17-308 Opens in a new tab sought an amendment to the Honolulu City Charter that would have given the hiring and firing power to the mayor.
Anderson said he introduced the resolution after some people raised concerns that the commission took a long time to select the new police chief, Susan Ballard, and that the panel was not being responsive to Council members.
Last year then-Council Chairman Ron Menor asked then-Police Commission Chairman Max Sword to appear before the Council to explain which agency would pay a controversial settlement reached with then-HPD Chief Louis Kealoha as a condition of his retirement. Sword chose not to appear, Anderson said, leaving him to question who oversees the commission and whether the panel was accountable to anyone.
The commission was also criticized in 2016 for failing to question Kealoha about a federal investigation looking into his actions. Kealoha, wife Katherine and other police officers were indicted in November.
Anderson also introduced Resolution Opens in a new tab17-307 Opens in a new tab, making it the job of the mayor to hire and dismiss the fire chief rather than the Fire Commission. That bill also was deferred Tuesday.
