Mayor Kirk Caldwell is replacing one member of the closely watched Honolulu Police Commission with a victims’ rights advocate, giving a new term to a second member and keeping Chairman Ron Taketa, whose term has expired, on board for now.
Loretta Sheehan, an attorney with Davis Levin Livingston, which is known for its work in civil rights, will replace Helen Hamada, who stayed a year after her term expired, Caldwell announced Friday.
Sheehan serves on the Board of Advisors for the Domestic Violence Action Center and was previously a deputy prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney who focused on criminal offenses. She received a Jefferson Award from the state for her work battling domestic violence.
Interest in the Police Commission has grown amid a number of high-profile criminal cases and lawsuits against HPD officers, including several involving domestic violence. Chief Louis Kealoha, meanwhile, is the subject of a federal investigation into actions taken by him and his wife, city Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Puana Kealoha. He is also under investigation by the city Ethics Commission.
Sheehan, speaking to reporters while standing next to Caldwell in his office Friday, said she wants to see more transparency in police operations.
“I worked with some really, really wonderful police officers, and I have the greatest respect for the
Honolulu Police Department,” she said, but added, “There do seem to be some concerns, some issues that have come up lately. If you’re the Honolulu Police Department, you have to be brave, you have to have the courage to look within and examine whether your police department is tolerating racism, is tolerating violence against women, whether your police department is tolerating excessive force.”
That courage is within the department, she said. “We just have to foster it.”
She continued, “We can bring in the community, and we can bring in the community providers and have a better conversation with the Police Department.
“I think it would really serve the Police Department to be more transparent. … I think they would actually find there to be of great benefit, and there would be much more public understanding of the difficult job that they do,” she added.
Taketa and the commission have been criticized for not looking into the allegations against Kealoha. Taketa has said the commission does not have the information that the other investigators have.
Sheehan said the commission “could certainly ask questions of parties that were involved.”
Even if those parties declined to speak to the commission, “at least then the public would now see that the Police Commission tried,” she said.
She said she did not seek out the appointment, but was approached by the mayor.
“She’s someone I think is going to bring a breath of fresh air to the approach of what we’re facing here in the City and County of Honolulu with the Police Department, and I’m glad she accepted,” Caldwell said.
Sheehan’s term expires Dec. 31, 2019.
Max Sword, an executive with Outrigger Enterprises, is being nominated for a second, full four-year term. His new term expires Dec. 31, 2020.
Caldwell said Sword has done a good job and that the visitor industry needs to be represented on the commission.
Sheehan’s appointment is for three years, rather than four, because Hamada stayed on for a year beyond her term, Caldwell said.
Both appointments require confirmation by the City Council.
Caldwell, when asked about Taketa, incorrectly told reporters the chairman’s term had not yet ended.
Later, the mayor’s spokesman, Jesse Broder Van Dyke, clarified that Taketa’s term ended Dec. 31.
“Like Helen Hamada, he remains on the commission unless the mayor makes another appointment,” Broder Van Dyke said. “Mayor Caldwell has asked him to remain on the commission for the time being.”
