New Honolulu police chief’s top goal is to restore trust

Filling vacancies and restoring trust at the Honolulu Police Department are top priorities, Honolulu’s new police chief told reporters Friday at a news conference.

“My first goal in the department right now is to earn the trust and confidence of the members of the Honolulu Police Department, and I’m working on that right now. And together we will earn and rebuild the trust with the community,” Honolulu Police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan said at HPD headquarters.

Flanked by his deputy chiefs, Keith Horikawa and Rade Vanic, the department’s 12th police chief discussed his recruitment plans to fill more than 300 vacancies at the department with a marketing campaign via social media and television advertisements.

Recruiters also are visiting schools and military installations.

“COVID has had some impact on our ability to be out and about in the community to recruit. Now with restrictions being lifted, our recruiters are actually getting out in the field, getting out to high schools, military installations, college campuses to look for those recruits that want to join the Honolulu Police Department,” Logan said.

He said filling patrol officer vacancies is a priority. “Patrol is the primary focus of the department right now because that’s where we engage with the public the most,” he added.

There were 1,828 police officers and 349 vacancies as of May 1, according to police spokeswoman Michelle Yu. There are also currently 74 recruits in training at the police academy in Waipahu.

Logan also addressed improving management of overtime hours for officers following a critical city audit.

“Many of the things the audit found, we have already started to implement all of the recommendations. I think some of the things we’re doing is automating the overtime cards so that we can keep better track of that, where the money is going and how it’s being executed.”

The Police Department continues to work through the audit, he said.

During the news conference, the police chief also said the department continues to look into extortion allegations against the two top officials of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers.

SHOPO President Robert Cavaco and Vice President Stephen Keogh have been placed on restrictive duty since the police department initiated an investigation into the allegations.

Cavaco and Keogh have maintained their innocence in the case.

Of the allegations, Logan said, “Right now it’s still under investigation.”

Before Logan was sworn in as police chief, he served 20 years with the Honolulu Police Department before he retired.

He also worked as a criminal investigator with the state Attorney General’s Office and director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and adjutant general of the Hawaii National Guard.

He described himself as a lifelong learner. “You gotta keep studying. You gotta stay abreast of what’s going on,” Logan said.

He recalled keeping up with what was going on with law enforcement agencies across the country while running the National Guard.

Logan said law enforcement is a career he has always loved, “a career that’s ingrained in me” as his brothers, uncles and a grandfather also served in law enforcement.

“It’s a calling to be a police officer,” he said.

Logan also addressed the recent burglary charges brought against his son, 36-year-old Zane Logan.

On Thursday, prosecutors charged Logan with second-degree burglary in connection with alleged bicycle thefts in two separate cases in 2021. Second- degree burglary is a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, if convicted.

Joe Logan said he has not had any contact with his son, and also said his son would receive no special privileges. “Just because he has my last name doesn’t give him any right or privilege,” Logan said.

Zane Logan is also awaiting trial in an unrelated felony theft case for allegedly stealing electronics at Target at Ala Moana Center. He was also charged in May for misdemeanor assault for allegedly attacking a 33-year-old man with a hand tool at Ala Moana Regional Park.