Police Commission could vote on new leaders

Honolulu Police Commission members could decide Wednesday whether to retain embattled Chairman Max Sword as their leader or to elect a new one.

Selection of a new chairman and vice chairman are on Wednesday’s agenda.

Sword was elected unanimously as chairman of the high-profile commission in December 2016 after former Chairman Ron Taketa left the panel the previous month.

During his tenure, the commission approved a $250,000 payment to former Chief Louis Kealoha upon his retirement and then undertook a lengthy and sometimes controversial process of hiring his successor, which resulted in the appointment of then-Maj. Susan Ballard at the end of October.

The commission was criticized for approving the $250,000 payment to Kealoha — who was indicted on federal corruption charges in October — as recommended by city Corporation Counsel Donna Leong and then endorsed by Sword.

The commission also was chastised for foot-dragging on the selection of a new chief. Last spring, Sword took heat when he recommended to his colleagues that Beth Chapman, who owns a bail bonds business with her husband, TV personality Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, be appointed to a citizen search advisory committee. Plans for the advisory committee were scrapped amid the furor.

In October, Sword recused himself from the chief’s selection process when the city Ethics Commission determined he had a conflict of interest for failing to make public immediately that Thomas Aiu, one of seven finalists for chief, is first cousin to Sword’s wife, Mona Wood-Sword.

Asked Monday if he wants to remain chairman, Sword told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser: “I’m still mulling it over. … We’ve got a new chief and that’s what we’re focused on.”

The commission’s chairman and its six commissioners are not paid. They are appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council.

Historically, the commission votes on its leadership lineup for an upcoming year in December. But vacancies and absences pushed the decision into the new year. In January, Commissioner Karen Chang suggested that the vote be delayed until Dick Grimm, a new sixth member, was seated.

After a lengthy discussion by the commission at its Feb. 7 meeting, Sword agreed to put the matter on Wednesday’s agenda. The commission has been without a vice chairman since Cha Thompson left the commission last month.

Sword said Monday he’d prefer the vote for chairman be held at the commission’s next meeting on March 7. “Then at least everybody participates in the process,” he said. The commission currently has one vacancy, and nominee Shannon Alivado is expected to have been approved by the Council and be able to attend her first meeting then, Sword said.

Commissioners Steven Levinson and Loretta Sheehan said Monday, however, that they want the vote to be held Wednesday.

Levinson said that’s what commissioners agreed to do at their Feb. 7 meeting. “We’ve already had two months of the year under the bridge,” he said. “I think it’s time for whoever the leadership is going to be to do some planning.”

Sheehan on Monday reiterated concerns she raised at the Feb. 7 meeting that the commission has chosen not to be proactive in its actions because of the uncertainty of leadership.

There are bills before the state Legislature, which adjourns in early May, on which the commission should provide its view, she said, while there’s also an immediate need for commissioners to improve their communications channel with the City Council.

There’s been a big turnover on the commission in the past few months. Only Sheehan and Levinson were among the five commissioners who picked Ballard as chief on Oct. 25. Since then, Mayor Kirk Caldwell has appointed Chang, Jerry Gibson, Grimm and Alivado to round out the panel.

Sword has by far the longest tenure on the panel and was first appointed by former Mayor Mufi Hannemann in 2009. Sheehan has served second longest and was appointed by Caldwell in June 2016, the same time the mayor reappointed Sword, who was first reappointed by ex-Mayor Peter Carlisle. Levinson was appointed in October 2016.

Asked if she wants to be chairwoman, Sheehan said: “I would be interested to hear from (Sword) what his plans are for the coming year. … Wherever my commissioners think I’m most useful, I’m happy to do it.”

Sheehan was the only commissioner who voted against paying Kealoha and instead wanted the panel to begin a for-cause action seeking his ouster.

Levinson said he does not want to be chairman.