Veteran police officer Marie McCauley was named one of two deputy police chiefs Wednesday, the first woman to ascend to the second-highest rank in the Honolulu Police Department.

McCauley, a 30-year veteran of the department, was assigned by Chief Louis Kealoha to head field operations.

Also named deputy chief was Dave Kajihiro, a 27-year veteran who will lead administrative operations.

McCauley and Kajihiro were sworn in by Circuit Judge Ed Kubo.

They replace deputy chiefs Randy Macadangdang and Delbert Ta­tsu­yama.

Kajihiro and McCauley "were selected based on their ability, their attitude and their character," Kealoha said. "They’ve demonstrated that along the way throughout their careers."

Kealoha and others acknowledged the significance of McCauley’s promotion.

McCauley said she was "honored and humbled" to be HPD’s first female deputy. She acknowledged others who had come before her for paving the way, including first policewoman Lucille Abreu, and first assistant chiefs Barbara Wong and Debbie Tandal.

She acknowledged feeling additional pressure that comes from being the first female deputy.

"But I enjoy it. I love this department and I love this job," she said. "I’ll do my best."

She said her biggest immediate challenge will be to ensure the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference this fall goes off smoothly.

"We’re doing a lot of preparation and we’ll be ready for it," she said.

Last year, as head of support services, Kajihiro was tasked with rolling out HPD’s Crime Mapping program that allows Oahu residents to find out quickly about crimes happening in their neighborhoods.

Like other assistant chiefs before him who have become deputy chiefs, Kajihiro is taking a pay cut from the promotion. Assistant chiefs’ salaries are tied to collective bargaining pay of police officers and deputies’ pay is set by a salary commission.

Kajihiro said his main priority is maintaining current levels of service amid tight fiscal times. Several longtime community programs have had cuts already and, in upcoming years, he said, "there are going to have to be some hard decisions."

Tatsuyama retired after 31 years. Macadandang, who will make 28 years at HPD in August, will take over the Regional Patrol Bureau post that Kajihiro is leaving.

Several other key changes have taken place on HPD’s organizational chart in recent months, including:

» Assistant Chief Greg Lefcourt now heads the Special Field Operations Bureau. Lefcourt was recently promoted from major, and he last headed the Pearl City district.

» Newly promoted Majs. Moana Heu, Ron Bode and Ray Ancheta have taken over command of the Wahiawa, Pearl City and Kapolei districts. Capt. William Axt is the acting major for the central Honolulu district just vacated by McCauley.

» Maj. Kurt Kendro now heads the Traffic Division, swapping jobs with Maj. Thomas Nitta, who now heads Records and Identification.

Also, Assistant Chief Bryan Wauke confirmed he will retire at the end of the month after his transfer to the Support Services Bureau. Wauke had headed the Special Field Operations Bureau since January 2010.

Wauke said although his financial adviser had recommended he retire at the end of June for financial reasons, he had originally chosen to stay through the end of the year so that he could lead HPD’s APEC security efforts. Since he’s been reassigned, however, he has changed his mind and will retire earlier.