Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi “could not be anymore dissatisfied” with what he called the Honolulu Police Department’s “failing” communication efforts, saying officers don’t get to make up their own rules about what the public needs to know.

Speaking on The One Oahu Podcast Wednesday, Blangiardi said HPD Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan deserves criticism for not notifying the public before a New Year’s Day-long manhunt that ended with 44-year-old Sidney Tafokitau dead and two officers hospitalized.

Blangiardi also took exception to learning from the media 17 days later of a lawsuit claiming that during the manhunt an HPD officer allegedly hit a 25-year-old man with a car and beat him while restraining his father because officers thought the pair were working with the suspect they were searching for.

The mayor and the police chief met Thursday.

“He (Logan) deserves criticism because we are failing, failing in our communication efforts. And we’ve been doing a lot of encouragement since our new chief has come into being, seemingly to no avail. It’s become frustrating and now it’s implicated me, to be real honest with you. There was an editorial (in the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser) just the other day on the Jan. 1st … that whole incident,” said Blangiardi on the podcast. “But I had no knowledge at all that there were two other people apprehended by police, beaten up, hurt substantially, and I learned about that on January 17th from the media. And this lawsuit was not incidental, and being confronted by the media and saying, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t read the paper yet’ is an honest answer but not how I want to be perceived as mayor. Nor our Cabinet or our team.”

Blangiardi continued that the Jan. 1 incident was “only one” example of HPD not communicating with the public and city officials.

“That’s only one. I could rattle off several instances like this. And so as of this recording, I have yet to resolve that with our chief of police, but I intend to do so. It’s unacceptable to me in a very big way. It negates a lot of the effort we are making and what we’re trying to do to rebuild trust and confidence in our team,” said Blangiardi. “They (HPD) don’t get to be a separate country. They don’t get to make up their own rules. Fundamentals that they are really required to do … they are not doing, and I don’t know how else to say it. It’s an unacceptable situation. The next time we have a conversation on this matter, I may be able to tell you what got resolved, but at this point, right now, I could not be any more dissatisfied.”

Logan told the Star-­Advertiser on Thursday that he and Blangiardi “had a very candid and productive meeting.”

“I can understand the mayor’s frustration with certain incidents, and I have assured him that I will be addressing those issues. I explained during our meeting that we have made adjustments to our internal and external communications, including posting information on multiple social media platforms to reach more residents. We will continue to work on getting our message out in an effective and timely way,” said Logan. “The mayor and I have always agreed on working together to ensure public safety for the City and County of Honolulu.”

Honolulu Police Commission Chair Doug Chin told the Star-Advertiser that the mayor’s comments “matter” and that the commission should “take them seriously and will bring them up with the chief in future meetings.”

“Improving media relations and prioritizing community communication are specific parts of the chief’s overall performance plan. The commission includes several current members who are news media-savvy and who want to help the department succeed and even excel in this area,” said Chin.

Blangiardi’s comments Wednesday came the same day the Honolulu City Council approved a resolution urging Honolulu’s first responder agencies to “explore and develop communications solutions that respect their operational needs while ensuring that the media and the public receive timely and accurate information during critical and emergency situations.”

On Jan. 11 the Council’s Committee on Executive Matters held a hearing on restoring access to the radio traffic that had been available for decades.

The public and news organizations lost the ability to monitor the radio communications of taxpayer­-funded first responders on Feb. 15, 2022, when the final phase of the city’s $15 million conversion from an analog system to an encrypted Motorola P25 digital system finished.

Logan told Council members HPD is working on a 24/7 notification system and empowering personnel to package and disseminate information and answer questions. Use of HPD’s social media channels will also be employed around the clock.

Logan’s objection to returning to the days when the public had access to nonencrypted radio traffic are supported for the second time since November 2022 by Hono­lulu Fire Chief Sheldon K. Hao and Emergency Serv­ices Director Dr. James Ireland.

The need to protect tactical information, personal information of victims and patients, and first responder operations were cited as reasons why the public should not hear how first responders operate in real time, but none of the agencies provided any evidence or examples to Council members or their staff to support their claims.

Council Chair Tommy Waters told the Star-Advertiser on Thursday that the issue of public safety is “very important to me, the Council and to the mayor, who has voiced his frustrations.” Waters is willing to introduce legislation to mandate improved first responder communication with the public.

“Thanks to Resolution 24-12 that was just adopted, we have begun important conversations with the city administration and HPD to urge more real-time updates to the media and public during emergency situations that can help to keep folks safe,” said Waters. “I’m hopeful that our dialogue will result in communications strategies that achieve this, but if we don’t see improvements in our processes, I’m prepared to introduce a bill to mandate better media communication. Throughout this process it has become abundantly clear that a better system is possible, as evidenced by HFD’s automated process that sends alerts to media in real time. We simply have to do better for the safety of our residents.”

Council Committee on Public Safety Chair and District 8 Council member Val Aquino Okimoto told the Star-Advertiser in a statement that she respects and is grateful to those “who undertake high-stress police work.”

“I also recognize that in order to improve public safety and transparency, I will continue to work with the department after allowing them sufficient time to complete their internal investigations, in order to address any areas of improvement,” said Okimoto. “I am optimistic that the committee will continue to work with HPD to improve communications, promote transparency, and maintain accountability. Finally, we extend our best wishes and aloha to the officers, and their families, who were injured during the incident on January 1st.”