During his 26 years with the Honolulu Police Department, Boyd Andrade Sr. never rose above the rank of sergeant, but he commanded incommensurable respect both in and out of uniform.
"I remember him taking off his uniform and taking care of ‘situations,’" said retired Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa. "When people would challenge him, he would take them on.
"He was very colorful, well respected … never yelled, never got excited, but when he spoke and when he wanted things done, people complied because of his reputation and who he was," Correa said.
Andrade, a former Honolulu Police Commission chairman and former city councilman, died Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center of head trauma due to a fall at his Foster Village home, his wife, Arlene Andrade, said. He was 86.
The son of a policeman, Andrade grew up in Kakaako, where he was part of a group of "ruffians," Arlene Andrade said.
After four years in the military, he returned home to his sick mother and to his old friends, and he fell back into his old ways and all kinds of trouble.
"Most of his friends ended up in Halawa," Arlene Andrade said. "He could have ended up on the other side. He was always so grateful he was given the chance.
"The Honolulu Police Department was his life," she said. "Everything else took a back seat. He was so proud to have been a policeman."
When Andrade started to fill out a police job application in 1948, he threw it down when he came to the question of whether he was ever convicted and started to walk out. The person there told him, "Sit down! Don’t you think I know about your record?"
He ended up getting the call to pick up his badge and gun.
Bobby Schmidt, longtime friend and retired police captain, said when he flunked a college semester, he decided to apply for HPD, and Andrade, who was "one of the biggest legends in HPD," influenced his decision.
Andrade was sergeant in charge of the metro squad that was started to stem a big crime wave at the time, Schmidt said.
He also served with vice and narcotics and was a solo bike officer.
As a former heavyweight boxer in the military, he had an imposing stature and kept fit, Schmidt said.
"He was loved by every policeman," he said. "They looked up to him like a father image. … He was a policeman’s policeman."
After retiring on Nov. 30, 1974, he worked as chief of security at the Sheraton Waikiki and Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Schmidt said.
He was appointed to the City Council, serving from 1994 to 1995 to replace Arnold Morgado.
"His deepest wish was to become a police commissioner," Arlene Andrade said. "From the day he retired, that was his wish."
Mayor Mufi Hannemann appointed him to the commission in 2005, and he served four years. He was chairman from 2006 to 2007.
Andrade "wanted to help the officers on the beat, not that he was easy on them if they screwed up," his wife said. "He was very strict on them. He was able to bring a different perspective.
"He made a difference," she said. "He was so proud to be a part of it."
Law enforcement runs in the family.
Father Manuel Andrade served three years on the force and was among the officers who discovered the body of Joe Kahahawai, one of four local men falsely accused of rape during the infamous Massie case of 1932.
Five of Boyd Andrade’s sons have served as Honolulu police officers: Boyd Jr., Milton (deceased) and Richard Andrade, and Darrell and Gary Lum Lee.
His eldest son, Baldwin Andrade, is a retired Halawa corrections sergeant.
Richard Andrade said his father was a good man.
"If he saw a $1,000 bill, he’d pick it up and turn it in to evidence," he said. "I didn’t look at filling his shoes. I had my own shoes to fill."
As a police officer, he recalled hearing his father, a sergeant, on the police radio, and officers would always address him as "sir," a title usually reserved for ranking officers.
Many men who worked under his father achieved higher rank, but "all have great respect for this man," Richard Andrade said.
Boyd Andrade Sr. is also survived by seven other sons; four daughters; 85 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; and two former wives.
Services are at 11 a.m. March 11 at Kawaiaha‘o Church. Visitation is at 9 a.m., with burial at 2 p.m. at Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery.
