Commission again extends deadline in search for Honolulu police chief

The 24 people who applied to serve as Honolulu’s 12th police chief have been informed whether they met the minimum qualifications, and the deadline to hire a consultant to pick the finalists for Honolulu police commissioners and the public to consider was extended again, to 4:30 p.m. Friday.

The Police Commission is not saying who met the minimum qualifications and is not releasing the names of the applicants to commissioners or the public until a consultant is hired to pick finalists.

“Candidates that have not met minimum qualifications are given a period of ten days to provide additional information for review,” Honolulu Police Commission Chairwoman Shannon L. Alivado told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement. “Commissioners will be updated during the Aug. 18 meeting as to the total number of qualified applicants eligible to move forward in the process.”

The deadline for consultants to apply was originally June 29, but only two companies bid for the extensive work because they have to evaluate candidates’ psychological makeup after the commission ran the recruitment process. The consultant deadline was later changed to July 31, delaying the entire hiring process for the chief by more than 30 days, before being extended Monday for a second time.

If the minimum number of consultant applicants is not reached, the commissioners will handle the hiring process themselves.

The consultant will “assist with the examination and assessment of psychological competency and other characteristics for the selection of the Chief of Police,” according to the commission’s request for proposals.

In addition to creating an avenue for public comment and training five evaluators for the assessment center, the consultant will “analyze and identify the key skills, abilities and psychological characteristics needed and desired for the position of Honolulu Chief of Police.”

The lack of qualified consultants applying to serve the commission delayed the selection process by more than 30 days.

Whoever wins the bid will also develop essay questions, review essays and identify the strongest candidates to be evaluated further by participating in the assessment center, the second phase of the process. The consultant will develop at least four assessment center exercises to evaluate candidates and create rating dimensions, rating forms, scoring and other related materials, according to the bid.

Commissioners will receive a summary report regarding the strong and weak points and traits of each candidate who participated in the assessment center. These reports will be used to coordinate with a psychologist to be retained by the Honolulu Police Commission so that the consultant may conduct psychological evaluations of the finalists, according to the bid.

Twelve of the applicants are from the mainland, and the other 12 are Hawaii residents.

Interim Chief Rade K. Vanic did not reply to a question about whether he applied for the permanent position, but previously said he is qualified for the job. Police District 3 Maj. Thomas Taflinger is the only candidate to confirm applying for the department’s top job.