Honolulu Police Department hires public relations firm
KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
Acting Major Keith Horikawa, of the Honolulu Police Department criminal investigation division, spoke to the media following the shooting of a burglary suspect at Honolulu Police Department headquarters in Honolulu on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.
The Honolulu Police Department will pay a public relations firm about $125,000 over a year to train its two police public relations professionals as well as leaders and officers.
A contract signed March 18 says Bennet Group Strategic Communications will provide the training, Hawaii News Now reported.
The contract also includes research, branding advice, strategic planning and $230-an-hour crisis communications services.
State Sen. Will Espero has been critical of department leadership.
“You could spend $1 million on publicity and PR, but it’s not going to change the way the public feels or the perception that they have as long as the status quo is not changed or improved,” he said.
Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, deputy city prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, have faced criticism related to court cases involving disputes with family members.
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One case was dropped after the chief’s testimony caused a mistrial. A lawyer in that case voiced concerns about potential police misconduct related to the investigation.
The chief has said he did nothing wrong.
Deputy Chief Marie McCauley said in a statement that the department is “working with Bennet Group to help us expand our team’s capacity to communicate clearly and effectively to our community as we protect and serve.”
City Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said it’s the first time the department has hired its own PR firm.
“I wonder about the need for the police department to have its own public relations firm and whether we can pool our resources,” she said.
53 responses to “Honolulu Police Department hires public relations firm”
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OMG! MORE MONEY that the Taxpayers will have to pay..! Why doesn’t the City/County just hire “David Copperfield” or “Doug Henning” or “Lance Burton” or the like? Atleast it would be entertaining, and it would put all the Political-Illusions “under one roof”…
Another half hearted, poorly written article about the HPD.. So sad our newspaper is so lousy.
Joseph007, agreed. Also, a close friend Acting Major Keith Horikawa is pictured making announcement on a shooting, is also an Iraq War veteran and commanded the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment. Go For Broke.
And?
Have to agree. The story is confusing at best. HPD is expensive, getting information to the public is critical. Outsourcing information distribution is not only cost-effective, it’s smart. The impression left by the article is that this is a response to spin HPD ‘gaffes’. And, of course, posters respond with predictable, negative blurbs that may or may not be factual (we really don’t know the facts yet). Agreed that individual officers are facing serious allegations that must be fully investigated. However, the vast majority of HPD Employees are dedicated professionals. They deal with a wide variety of events, issues, and problems. Perhaps more than any other organization, public distribution of information is critical to mission completion. It’s not as simple as ‘if only HPD Officers would be…’. Even with all the bad ‘pub’, HPD is doing a thankless job.
Somebody, please stick a plug in it and stop the constant drain of our hard earned money!
A ridiculous waste of tax payer money. And in the end it is difficult to make the failed buffoon Kealoha look good. Big changes at HPD are needed.
YUP… BIG changes at HPD are in dire need.
OH, no question, but I think this is a sad day in Hawaiian Administration–you don’t need a PR firm if you do your job right and openly. What the HECK is wrong??? Where are our career politicians??? Doesn’t this have to go through the 9.5 levels of management to be approved???? Will the Handi-Van be next???? PR–that’s what the major is supposed to do–give us reassurance and confidence in our police force!!! Sorry, but this is absolutely ridiculous!!!! But, of course, it’s ONLY OUR MONEY!!!
Why is the HPD wasting taxpayers’ dollars on non-law enforcement activity? Where the hell is the Police Commission doing letting this non-essential expenditures to be made? These are the same people, Chief Kealoha, the Commission members and Kirk Caldwell, said that they did not need the $500,000 dollars the City would receive by selling the used pistols on the mainland? Is the City and County of Honolulu rolling in money that it can be wasted or ignored? I guess the Zoo can be held up as an example of the poor financial management that the Caldwell administration is accustomed to.
Shoulda had their precious Union pay the firm using each and every individual cop’s money! Why should the public shoulder this because of a chief who should have retired, should he have had an iota of honor?
RIDICULOUS !!!!
We as taxpayers are gonna pay to be spoonfed sugar-coated “information”? And… don’t they already have “spokespersons” that are paid to do this? If everything is on the up and up why the need for a PR firm?
Another Kealoha misfire! The bugga only wants to CYA and his wife’s also. He is just another local punk! Waste money!
Yes THiS is what’s wrong with the police. It’s not that the chief and his wife are under federal investigation. It’s that they need better PR! What a joke our police chief is just a complete and total joke.
agree…There is no amount of horror perpetrated by the foolish Kealoha that he won’t dish out to the public.,
An honorable man with integrity would have retired 6 months ago already to let the department “heal”
Instead of hiring a PR firm, why don’t they FIRE a PR liability???
Message I see conveyed – There’s 2 “public relations professionals” already on staff. OBVIOUSLY the administration isn’t happy with the IMAGE of the HPD. Seems these 2 staff people aren’t doing their job and the City will pay for outside help.
Don’t do your job? Don’t worry, we’ll hire from the outside to DO YOUR JOB FOR YOU. SO LAME………
THEY ARE USING THE ORIGINAL U.H. ATHLETICS DEPT. MODEL IN DEALING/KOWTOWING TO THE NCAA BEFORE THE SANCTIONS AS THEIR ATTEMPT TO WHITEWASH THE BAD COP IMAGE.
Hate to say it but to paraphrase the saying “you can put $125k worth of lipstick on a p**.” It’s not meant to denigrate the good officers but the bad ones.
Let’s wait a year and see if we get our money’s worth?
If HPD stop beating their wives and girlfriends, stop doing drugs and other bad things, well then they won’t need outside PR firm…
$10,000/month to give he HPD a happy face. Real public relations is where the rubber meets the road in the public eye. Not parking your car at the back of parking lots … we have a lot of laws that get broken endlessly.
Great idea! We need some positive aspects of police work. Don’t like the price but they need help!
DEFINITELY NEED HELP!! Some… not all Police officers have very poor attitude and temperament, especially the rookies. Ten to fifteen years ago, they were so much more helpful. If they don’t like being Police officers, find another career.
Yup!
But what other job gives you the right to swagger with a gun, hide behind a badge to harass anyone that belittled you in the past, and not have to buy a decent wardrobe?
And tag your SAS ass. Then smile while you beg that ur insurance going up. Oh and a blow job on a little tube..086 oh. Bad.
Need Help? Aren’t they suppose to be the help as in first responders? Pilau is PILAU! When the roots are roughten the fruits turn bad! A,men! Next on the chopping block is the WEAK A-R-S-E Police Commission. They are a really pathetic JOKE!
Is this the origin of the phrase “lipstick on a ____”?
🙂
Money doesn’t buy moral rectitude, but it does buy forked tongues.
“Honolulu Police Department hires public relations firm”
Problems. Solved.
Oh boy, spinning.
Espero and Kobayashi are both right. Spending money to try to cover over HPD screw-ups, unethical and possibly illegal behavior by the Kealohas is a stupid waste. Especially in a city that can’t pay to keep the parks maintained, potholes filled, zoo accredited, homeless programs, sewer and water main upgrades, and trash pickup.
Wouldn’t it be less expensive (in many ways) simply to give a fair assessment of Mr. Kealoha’s performance, and then replace him with a police chief whose main focus would be the care of our community?
He’s been assessed to death! He does his job well! He does have some personal issues which are questionable, at best. Not a termination offense, but still mind boggling!
Really? The Feds don’t get involved and expend their resources for investigating “personal issues which are questionable.”
Good Lord! If these upper echelon ‘gold badges’ don’t have the brains to speak for themselves, they should still be out on patrol duty!
Better yet, security guards at Kahala Mall?
One guard at Wholefoods asked me out!
Is that even a good PR firm that they hired?
answer, no. lame firm but connected.
The chief has said he did nothing wrong.
That’s what criminals say, ” I did nothing wrong “. Let a third party decide what constitutes ‘wrong’.
“You could spend $1 million on publicity and PR, but it’s not going to change the way the public feels or the perception that they have as long as the status quo is not changed or improved,” Espero said.
So, HPD will instead spend $125,000 over a year to train its two police public relations “professionals”/Leaders ?
Will Espero has been critical of department leadership. The answer is to replace the ‘weak’ leadership. Not train them. “Using the same people and expecting different results.” Interesting.
Ann Kobayashi said it’s the first time the department has hired its own PR firm.
I think the battling Council members need something similar. Or perhaps this coming election will prove otherwise.
Have PRP run your ads. Why exhort the people for their hard earned money? The police commission chair is one and the same for PRP.
Yet another spin control attempt without curing the problem. Guess they are learning from HART.
This non-law enforcement use of funds should be illegal. It’s certainly ill-advised.
Shoot the feet. Knuckle-Heads playing Russian Roulette with a semi automatic gun.
Learning how to spin things is not going to do anything to change the increasing perception by the public of HPD as a rogue organization increasingly out of touch with the public
they supposedly serve. When you see police officers breaking the law and acting imperious that is the reality that no amount of bull is going to change,
As I have stated before, the fish rots from the head and the head of HPD and his cronies have been rotting for awhile.
Of real concern is how inept and weak the police commission, the Mayor and City Council have been. The tail wags the dog without a doubt from what I have observed.
You will see what I mean if you watch hearings before the City Council when HPD testifies.
This is more proof that Kealoha is unfit to manage HPD. Now he wants to spend taxpayer money in a desperate attempt to change public perception and save his job. It’s too late, the general public has lost confidence in HPD due to poor leadership, abuse of power and civil rights violations.Caldwell and most of the city council need to be retired too. All of them have been in office too long and been bought out by special interests groups like PRP and public worker unions. That’s who they represent, not their districts.
What is really going to happen, line operators are going too hunker down, dig a deep fox hole. Just like LA in the 90s with Riots, Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago, and NYC. anytime Feds are around, lot’s of hiding, inaction for fear of a Fed investigation. Administrators, Captains above are aligning themselves up with “right team” people who want Kealoha’s job. PR firm is just a distraction to the real problem. What it means for the taxpayer, more wasted money, more internal politics, more poor service, higher crime rate aided by the fact ty that Department of Public safety is lobbying ty o release non-violent offenders.
You can’t shine a turd, but you can sure cover it up and that is what they are attempting to do. smh
Same of S–T!