Sheehan, Levinson voice frustration as they resign from Police Commission

The two most vocal members of the Honolulu Police Commission are resigning, voicing frustration at the limited power the commission has to oversee the Police Department and its chief, Susan Ballard.

Attorney and former federal prosecutor Loretta Sheehan resigned effective today, and retired Hawaii Supreme Court Associate Justice Steven Levinson resigned Wednesday from the seven-member, all-volunteer commission.

“For a so-called civilian oversight body, the commission has very little oversight power with teeth,” Levinson said. “And with respect to the use of its bully pulpit to do investigations and shed light on problems that it believes are taking place within the department, the commission has been historically unwilling to do that, to use it much, and remains unwilling to use it much.”

“Loretta and I got to the point where we couldn’t take it anymore; it just wasn’t worth it.”

Sheehan added, “At the heart of it, the current commission is very focused on supporting the chief of police. That is not a bad thing. That’s a good thing. It’s just that you don’t need me for that.”

Sheehan and Levinson were instrumental in the selection of Ballard in October 2017, a pick made by a 4-0 vote in the wake of the scandal that led to the conviction of ex-Chief Louis Kealoha on charges of obstruction, conspiracy, identity theft and bank fraud.

Sheehan was the only commissioner in January 2018 to vote against a controversial agreement that allowed Kealoha to retire with a $250,000 settlement.

When Sheehan was chairwoman and Levinson the vice chairman, they led a successful effort to make the chief’s annual evaluation more detailed and transparent and worked on other initiatives aimed at making the commission and department more accessible to the public.

They openly voiced policy disagreements they would have with Ballard.

Levinson said, “One doesn’t have to attend too many meetings … to get the sense of where the center of gravity is in terms of policy orientation on the commission. Whether the balance tends to tip toward attempts to be a watchdog or whether the balance tends to tip toward being a supporter, as a default mode, of the department and the chief, and a defender of the department and the chief. I would not expect going forward to see a lot of waves made by the commission.”

Both Sheehan and Levinson said that despite some disagreements with Ballard, they think she’s been doing a good job.

Sheehan said Ballard has implemented an officer body camera program, developed HPD’s homeless outreach and navigation centers, and “certainly, restored morale at the Police Department and done an excellent job at rebuilding the crime lab.”

“There’s always improvements to be made and progress to be sought, but she’s done a lot in her short tenure,” she said. “Absolutely, over the years, Sue and I have had our disagreements, but any disagreements shouldn’t detract from her accomplishments, not one bit.”

Levinson said the commission recently completed work on its annual evaluation of the chief, which will likely be formally adopted and made public at Wednesday’s scheduled commission meeting.

While he’s had his own disagreements with Ballard, “I am a fan of the chief, and I’m proud of the way she’s conducted herself and the department.”

Sheehan was ousted as commission chairwoman in January after nearly two years at the helm. At the time, both Sheehan and her successor, current Chairwoman Shannon Alivado, made it clear they believed their colleagues wanted a shift in leadership styles.

Upon arriving on the commission, Sheehan voiced strongly her desire for the panel to be more transparent and proactive and was the embattled Kealoha’s harshest critic. At Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s June 2016 news conference announcing her appointment, made as the controversy surrounding Kealoha was swirling and the commission was criticized for not actively investigating him, Sheehan suggested the panel was not doing enough and said that it “could certainly ask questions of parties that were involved.”

Sheehan said she was ready to leave after her first term officially ended at the end of 2019 but stayed on at Levinson’s request. She said she and Levinson, because of their shared legal backgrounds, were able to bounce ideas off of each other.

But with Levinson’s decision to leave on Wednesday, “I didn’t need to stay anymore.”

Sheehan, 59, called her time on the commission “a profound experience” and “deeply satisfying to challenge the status quo … but you can’t do that forever. There comes a time to move on and let somebody else do the job.”

Levinson, who will be 74 next week, said he is battling prostate cancer and that he and his wife are preparing for a possible move to a senior living community, and that those are the key issues driving his departure.

Levinson said he believes there is a “disconnect between public expectations regarding the commission” and what authority it actually has under the Honolulu City Charter.

“The commission has only one real power by way of oversight, and that’s the hiring, firing and disciplining of the chief,” Levinson said.

Levinson noted that the charter lists one of the commission’s duties as receiving, considering and investigating charges brought by the public against the conduct of the department or its members. And while the commission does investigate complaints against individual officers, the commission is purely advisory and makes recommendations to the chief, who does not need to either accept or follow a recommendation, or even respond to it.

“So here we are, spending a lot of time, doing a lot of homework and a lot of preparation over what ultimately turns out to be not a whole hell of a lot,” Levinson said.

Ballard, asked to comment on the resignations, said in a statement, “Commissioners Sheehan and Levinson provided vision and leadership during a very difficult time, and their dedication and effort helped the HPC and HPD to get moving in a positive direction again. Their combined service to the people of Honolulu is significant.”

Alivado, in a statement, thanked the two outgoing commissioners for providing “important perspectives” as well as “excellence, legal background, and professionalism.”

The two resignations leave the seven-member commission with only four active members.

Karen Chang resigned from the commission several months ago just prior to the mid-February announcement by Rick Blangiardi, her husband, that he is running for Honolulu mayor in 2020.