With his appointment as Department of Public Safety director confirmed by the state Senate this week, Max Otani is now tasked with working through a challenging to-do list.

Some of the matters in need of attention are longstanding problems, such as understaffing and overcrowding in outdated facilities. An immediate must-do: continuing efforts to fend off COVID-19 spread in facilities like Maui Community Correctional Center, now reportedly with more than two dozen active cases, and Oahu’s jail, which six months ago had the state’s largest infection cluster. For this tough job, Otani will surely be drawing on his decades of experience in Hawaii’s corrections and judicial systems.