Candidates for Honolulu Police chief participate in public forum

In an unprecedented display of transparency by law enforcement officials, the four finalists competing to serve as Honolulu’s 12th police chief candidly discussed their concerns and plans during a live public forum on PBS Hawaii.

Repairing the Honolulu Police Department’s reputation, providing more information to the media, increasing patrol staffing, addressing officer wellness and stopping the surge of violent crime were among the issues addressed by the candidates during the 90-minute live forum televised Thursday night on PBS Hawaii’s “Insights” program.

The public submitted questions posed to the candidates by Honolulu Star-­Advertiser “Spotlight Hawaii” host Yunji de Nies.

Maj. Mike Lambert, head of the Honolulu Police Department’s Ke Kula Makai Training Division; Maj. Ben Moszkowicz, who runs HPD’s Traffic Division; retired Brig. Gen. Arthur “Joe” Logan, former adjutant general of the Hawaii National Guard, who currently works as a criminal investigator with the state Attorney General’s Office; and retired New Jersey State Police Lt. Col. Scott Ebner, took questions from the public and articulated their vision for HPD.

De Nies opened the forum by pointing out that the search for the next chief has “dragged on for nearly a year” at a time when the “Police Department itself has been struggling to repair its reputation.”

Lambert, a 19-year veteran of the department and the son of a retired officer, said the department lacks legitimacy in the wake of the scandal that led to former Police Chief Louis Kealoha’s imprisonment. Under his administration there would be clear consequences for officer misconduct to end the “rampant nepotism” that plagues the department.

“We lack legitimacy. Who wants to work for an agency that is perceived to be corrupt?” said Lambert. “It’s not my personal club, meaning that if I leave here with nothing more than my integrity and no friends because I have to make tough decisions, then so be it. I’ll go back to my family, I’ll go hug my kids and hopefully I will be remembered as one of the best chiefs Honolulu ever had.”

Recruiting more officers to fill vacant patrol positions was discussed at length by the candidates. They agreed that more officers on the road and targeted enforcement based on criminal intelligence and crime analysis will help stop violent and property crimes from occurring.

Moszkowicz said the 300 vacant positions that are discussed publicly do not account for the totality of the staffing shortage. More than 100 officers are on “special assignments,” meaning they may be assigned to one area of the island but are actually working at a totally different task. The “gigantic, entangled mess” of special assignments is keeping valuable officers off the road.

“We have full-duty, full- status service officers sitting in a room taking calls. I would much rather have them driving around a neighborhood,” he said.

Ebner said Hawaii has been close to his heart since 1998 when he honeymooned here, and that addressing staffing shortages won’t happen overnight.

“It’s impossible to make up for 300-plus officers. … That didn’t happen overnight. That’s a failure of leadership,” said Ebner.

“Patrol and operations are the backbone of the agency.”

Being an outsider gives him an advantage to evaluate the department unfettered by loyalties and relationships linked to the islands. Nearly a decade of his career was spent in Internal Affairs, and ensuring the most skilled officers are retained and recruiting officers who understand the standard is key to restoring public trust. Recruiting from the large military population in Hawaii is an untapped opportunity, he said.

Logan, a 20-year HPD veteran before joining the military, is the grandson of a New York City police officer, and two of his brothers served in the department. He said policing is a big part of the “fabric” of the Logan family.

“The rising crime is a growing issue,” said Logan. “We need to re-prioritize where the manpower goes.”

All of the candidates said they want to improve how the department communicates with the news media and the community. Each finalist committed to being open and transparent.

Lambert and Moskowicz committed to getting out information about events within hours and using the plethora of information accumulated by HPD to tell a story and be responsive to questions in a timely, consistent and honest fashion.

”You have to be forthcoming with information, pro­active with the information, honest, transparent communication,” said Moszkowicz. “And more importantly, get as much information as you can out as quickly as possible.”

Officer wellness and fair, consistent discipline are critical components of a law-abiding police force and a top priority for all of the candidates.

Logan pointed out that “machoism” prevents too many soldiers and police officers from getting the help they need.

“Officers need to make sure they are mentally, physically and spiritually healthy. That you need to seek help if you have issues coming to work, “They don’t want to say they have issues. They see trauma, they see events … I think there is a far more vast array of police officers that have PTSD that really don’t know that they do.”

Lambert broke down when talking about a fellow officer who killed himself last year because of the stresses of the job coupled with a lingering disciplinary issue. Modeling a disciplinary matrix that is consistent and fair is a top priority.

“He took his own life and it’s because his job was just too hard and he had gotten into trouble and he wasn’t sure that he would have his job,” said Lambert, visibly choking up. “No matter what I told him, because of the inconsistency in discipline, that some people get busted and some people don’t. He thought he was going to lose his job and he ended up making a very poor choice.”

Moszkowicz said there are three vacant positions for police psychologist that are unfilled. If picked, he will ensure that officer mental health is prioritized.

“Police officers in one day can experience a lifetime of trauma. The things we see and the things we experience in a day or a week or a shift, let alone a career, are just … astonishing.”