David Shapiro: Our police commissioners must be watchdogs, not lapdogs

With protests over police misconduct raging across the country, the last thing we need is worries about the quality of oversight of the Honolulu Police Department.

But that’s where we are after the abrupt resignations from the seven-member Police Commission of the two most reform-minded members, retired Supreme Court Justice Steven Levinson and former federal prosecutor Loretta Sheehan.

Both essentially felt they were wasting their time on a panel that seems more interested in cheerleading for Chief Susan Ballard and the department than independently policing their performance.

The fear is that it returns us to the bad old days when commissioners looked the other way during the corrupt regime of former Chief Louis Kealoha, eventually convicted on federal charges of, among other things, using police to frame his wife’s uncle for mailbox theft in a family dispute.

Sheehan alone raised concerns as the commission gave Kealoha glowing reviews while the federal investigation played out in plain view. She cast the only vote against a sweetheart retirement deal that let Kealoha walk off with $250,000 in taxpayer money as federal prosecutors closed in.

Levinson pushed to make Sheehan commission chairwoman and joined with her to facilitate the hiring of Ballard to repair the massive damage Kealoha had done to the department.

The two continue to support Ballard, crediting her with ably lifting the department out of morass left by Kealoha, improving morale and tackling community problems such as homelessness.

But they didn’t hesitate to put her feet to the fire when they felt it warranted, and it wasn’t the way other commissioners wanted to roll. In January, Sheehan was ousted as chairwoman in favor of Shannon Alivado.

Levinson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Gordon Pang that the commission’s mindset has reverted from public watchdog to its previous role of defender of the chief and predicted, “I would not expect going forward to see a lot of waves made by the commission.”

Alivado says the City Charter gives the commission little authority over police beyond the power to hire and fire the chief, which is true only to a point.

The power to fire gives commissioners tremendous leverage to force responsiveness when they or the public have concerns about the department. They can act as a bully pulpit when necessary.

The commission has authority to investigate public complaints against officers. With Sheehan and Levinson, complainants could count on a fair hearing, key to keeping our department relatively clean of the abuses fueling mainland protests. Now we’re not so sure.

With these resignations in addition to that of Karen Chang, who stepped down when her husband, Rick Blangiardi, announced his run for mayor, Mayor Kirk Caldwell has three commission vacancies to fill.

His choices will tell whether he favors the watchdog or cheerleader model of police oversight.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.