A city audit finding that the Honolulu Police Commission (HPC) does not have adequate, “defined processes” for evaluating the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) deserves full consideration as a potential roadmap for improvements.
Unfortunately, the auditor also reports that the commission has expressed “general disagreement” with its primary findings and “lukewarm consideration” for other recommendations. That’s a disappointment, because the HPC must be expected to embrace opportunities to improve its quality of oversight. “Times change,” as City Council Chair Tommy Waters commented, and changes in police operations can be necessary to meet current standards.
The criticisms and recommendations of the auditor shouldn’t be seen as a condemnation of HPC’s current members, as this group has demonstrated diligence and integrity. Nonetheless, procedures are inadequate: overly deferential to HPD’s lack of cooperation; excessively ambiguous in defining the commission’s responsibilities.
Documentation of concerns, police responses and corresponding corrections, along with detailed guidelines for conducting commission reviews, would help eliminate uncertainty over HPC’s performance, as the auditor suggests. These improvements should be incorporated to the extent possible.
Both HPD and the HPC currently operate in an era of heightened scrutiny, following a crisis of corruption under former police chief Louis Kealoha that continues to undermine public confidence in city institutions. The HPC itself came under investigation in connection with Kealoha’s astonishing, years-long run of criminal behavior, which included conspiracy with fellow police officers to frame an innocent man for a federal crime. Federal charges have been filed against former HPC Chair Max Sword, former Honolulu Corporation Counsel Donna Leong and former Managing Director Roy Amemiya for allegedly joining in a 2017 conspiracy to defraud the city, diverting police funds to pay Kealoha to retire. A trial, after many delays, is now scheduled for October.
Investigating allegations of police wrongdoing can be exceedingly complex, and officers enjoy privacy and employment protections specific to law enforcement that often hinder access to information. But this is precisely why it’s necessary that the police commission establish the highest standards achievable for HPD oversight.
The Aug. 29 city Auditor’s report details instances when the commission did not fulfill duties established by its city charter, including an annual review comparing HPD achievements against planning goals and objectives and annual evaluation of the chief. The HPC has “informally” combined its evaluations of the chief and police performance, the audit notes. And in 2022, the year current chief Joe Logan was chosen by a unanimous commission, the HPC opted to forgo evaluating both interim chief Rade Vanic and HPD’s annual achievements; the latter evaluation should have been done. The lack of specific guidelines that allows such discretion results in “inconsistent and ineffective oversight,” the audit found.
The remedy suggested, which must be taken up: “defined processes” for each HPC duty; and “full transparency and accountability” from HPD, in the form of written responses to complaints and concerns, necessary to document whether commission efforts “are actually resulting in individual accountability and necessary improvements.”
Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s recent statement arguing that the mayor should have hiring authority over Honolulu’s police chief also indicates concern over the adequacy of HPC review and decision-making. But police commission control over the chief is a better path, helping to ensure transparency and fairness — though only if the HPC itself is held to the highest standards. It is worth considering, as the audit recommends, that the mayor have some official role in the police chief’s selection and annual evaluation.
However trustworthy and diligent the current commission may be, it must be acknowledged that its future makeup is unknown. Therefore, straightforward parameters for HPC duties, along with the mayor’s involvement, are in the public’s best interest.
