Honolulu Police Maj. Ryan Borges made the right decision by not accepting his appointment as assistant chief following weeks of controversy. Borges’ guilty plea for terroristic threatening in a 1994 domestic violence case raised initial questions about Chief Louis Kealoha’s choice.

Equally disturbing was Borges’ campaign to rally support after state Sen. Will Espero criticized his appointment, which was to be effective Feb. 28. Borges sent out letters seeking character references, saying he was under “spiritual attack” and referring to Espero as “the enemy.”

Espero said the letter showed Borges is not tolerant of criticism and has poor judgment and decision-making skills.

Google Hawaiian isn’t quite Hawaiian

The ability to convert between Hawaiian and English — or most other languages — is the latest welcome addition to Google Translate, the free online interpreter. Not surprisingly, it’s a work in progress.

Just for fun, we copied and pasted in the state motto, “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ‘Äina i ka Pono,” complete with diacriticals and got back “Was ordered adjudged and decreed.” Hmm, a long way from the standard translation, “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”

Oddly, when we entered the English, the result was closer: “Ke ola o ka aina ua mau i ka pono.”

The folks at Google freely acknowledge that it needs input from users to improve. So come on, Hawaiian speakers, it’s time to teach.