As the Honolulu Police Department makes good progress digging out from the Louis Kealoha corruption scandal, the last thing it needs is an infusion of politics into policing.

Yet that’s exactly what City Councilman Ikaika Anderson is pushing in his proposed City Charter amendment to have the mayor hire and fire the police chief rather than the seven-member Honolulu Police Commission.

The change, which would go to voters in November if approved by the Council and Mayor Kirk Caldwell, also would have the Council appoint three of the police commissioners, who are now all appointed by the mayor with Council confirmation.

A shakeup might have looked necessary a year ago, when the Police Commission dragged its feet too long in removing former chief Kealoha in the face of a federal corruption investigation against him — and then let him retire with a $250,000 buyout that commissioners refused to explain to the public or Council.

Since then, however, the system has worked the way it should to correct the problem and public confidence in HPD is on the rise.

Caldwell has replaced six of the seven commissioners with mostly excellent appointees, such as former federal prosecutor Loretta Sheehan and retired Supreme Court Justice Steven Levinson, who have made the commission more active and professional in its oversight of the department and accountability to the public.

Commissioners appointed HPD veteran Susan Ballard as the new chief, and she’s been refreshingly straightforward in making the needed changes to move the department past the Kealoha scandals.

It would be foolhardy for the City Council to disrupt this progress by infesting the commission with the politics that would result from making the chief and commission more owing to the mayor and Council.

There’s good reason for having a layer of civilian separation between the politicians and police.

Look at the turmoil in Washington as President Donald Trump makes political attacks on the FBI in an attempt to gain protection in the Russia investigation, with one FBI director fired for refusing to play ball.

When there are politically charged police investigations locally, we are well-served to have police shielded by the commission instead of under the mayor’s control.

While we’re talking about police and politics, it’s time for SHOPO, the police officers’ union, to end its endorsements of political candidates. Such partisanship raises doubts about police impartiality and questions about motives.

Imagine how much worse the FBI’s political predicament would be if a union representing agents had made an endorsement in the Trump-Clinton election.

Politics and law enforcement don’t mix, and the Anderson proposal is a big step in the wrong direction.

Council members can best help restore police credibility by ending their solicitations of SHOPO’s endorsements and being more diligent in screening the mayor’s nominees to the Police Commission.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.