Police Commission picks new chairman

The seven-member Honolulu Police Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to make hotel executive Max Sword the chairman of the closely watched panel effective Jan. 1.

Sword, a vice president and lobbyist for Outrigger Enterprises, replaces Ron Taketa, who served as chairman for several years until he left the panel last month.

The commission also voted unanimously to keep Vice Chairwoman Cha Thompson as second-in-command. Thompson has been serving as acting chairwoman since Taketa’s departure but said after Wednesday’s meeting that she did not want to become chairwoman because she needs to tend to her entertainment business.

The commission, under Taketa’s leadership, was hit by public accusations that it has not done enough to address recent controversies involving Chief Louis Kealoha and HPD officers. Taketa insisted that the commission has acted properly, and said the commission has had no grounds to discipline or fire Kealoha.

Commission member Loretta Sheehan, who since being appointed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell several months ago has suggested publicly that the commission has not scrutinized the chief and the department enough, asked Sword before Wednesday’s vote how he intended to improve the community’s perception of the agency.

Sword said he views the chairman as the commission’s facilitator. “We have seven diverse views on this board. … I believe we can come to some consensus on how to approach that.”

ASKED by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser after Wednesday’s meeting how his leadership will differ from that of his predecessor, Sword again said he will emphasize consensus-building, just as Taketa had.

“I think that’s always a good thing to do when you have seven diverse opinions, that you try to come to an agreement that is a consensus for the whole group,” Sword said.

During the meeting, Thompson asked Sword if he intended to continue Taketa’s role of being the commission’s single public spokesman. Sword responded that “we’ll broach that subject later.”

After the meeting, Sword said one person should speak for the commission so that there is no ambiguity about its position. “That way, everybody gets the story straight the first time.”

Individual members can express themselves, as long as it’s clear it’s not on behalf of the commission, Sword said. “I have no problem with dissenting voices. … I would encourage the commissioners to have one voice in speaking on issues pertaining to anything relating to the department that comes to the commission.”

Regarding what he described as “the chief issue,” Sword said, “a lot of people think we don’t take the chief to task, and we do. Just as we’re here to take the chief to task, we’re also here to support him and the department.”

Sword was first appointed to the commission in 2009 by then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann to fill a term left by a resignation. Sword was then appointed to a full five-year term by then-Mayor Peter Carlisle that ran through Dec. 31, 2015. After being a holdover through the first half of 2016, Caldwell appointed him in June to his second full term that runs through Dec. 31, 2020.

Commission member Mark K. Tilker, himself a former commission chairman, said, “Sword’s many years on the panel will serve him well.”

Commission member Luella Costales’ term runs out Dec. 31. Appointed by Carlisle, Costales said she has not spoken with anyone in the Caldwell administration about whether the mayor intends to reappoint her. She said she would be OK with not being reappointed as long as the panel continues to be represented by a diverse cross-section of the community.