Mayor Blangiardi wants authority to hire, fire Honolulu police chief

Only two of the seven members of the commission responsible for hiring and firing the Honolulu police chief were told by Mayor Rick Blangiardi that he wants to bring in Hawaii island’s police chief to replace a retiring Arthur “Joe” Logan.

Blangiardi, in an interview with the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser, said his administration will introduce an amendment to the city charter to remove the Honolulu Police Commission’s authority over the office of the chief of the police.

The Honolulu Police Department is only city department that the mayor cannot make decisions about the leadership of, he said.

The Office of the Mayor is responsible for keeping the community safe, Blangiardi said, noting you can’t “hold somebody responsible and not give them commensurate authority.”

“I don’t have the authority to hire and fire (the police chief). But that doesn’t mean I can’t have a candid conversation with the chief of police about the state of the department. Which is exactly what I did,” said Blangiardi, noting the process of seeking to change the city charter takes at least 18 months. “I have responsibility not only for HPD but all public safety issues and I have no authority, to deal, officially, (with) who is the chief of police” Blangiardi said. “That’s wrong and that is fundamentally bad management structure.”

In response to a Star-­Advertiser request to interview Logan, Kathleen Alina Lee, HPD’s public information officer, told the Star-­Advertiser that at “this time, Chief Logan will not be offering interviews regarding his retirement.”

“All information available is in his current statement. Should he decide to open up the opportunities for interviews in the future, we’ll reach out and let media know,” said Lee, in a statement.

The commissioners will meet today at 2 p.m. in the first floor Conference Room A at HPD’s Alapai Headquarters for their regularly scheduled meeting.

Blangiardi informed HPC Chair Kenneth Silva and Vice Chair Laurie Foster that Logan would retire June 30 and he had negotiated Hawaii Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz’s application to serve as interim HPD chief starting July 16.

Moszkowicz, a former major with HPD, was one of four finalists for chief when Logan, 66, was selected May 23, 2022.

Moszkowicz is a 22-year veteran of HPD who left the department to become chief on Hawaii island.

Blangiardi made no secret of his desire for Logan to move on from his post. A public rift between the two leaders emerged following a 2024 New Year’s Day-long manhunt and shootout.

HPD did not notify the public that officers were chasing around the island an armed attempted murder suspect, who had shot his ex-girlfriend, until the suspect was dead and two officers were shot.

The Star-Advertiser asked all seven members of the commission if they discussed Blangiardi’s police leadership transition and what they knew about Logan’s retirement, who informed them and when.

On Monday, Blangiardi, speaking to reporters in his office about Logan’s ouster, said commissioners were “well aware of this for some time now.”

The commission is not required to consider Blangiardi’s recommendation more than other applicants. The Star-Advertiser also asked about Blangiardi’s desire to take away the commission’s oversight of HPD’s chief.

Foster told the Star-­Advertiser that in mid-May, the mayor “indicated to me that he was going to act on his dissatisfaction with the chief” but did not discuss how he planned to do so “nor did he mention Chief Ben as a replacement.”

Foster believes it is “inappropriate to suggest that the answer to HPD governance is simply the mayor having oversight authority over the chief.”

“The entire HPD governance model has to be comprehensively reassessed. As I understand it, oversight authority of the chief’s office was removed from the mayor in the past for good reason. In part, that reason was to separate HPD governance from the political process, which seems quite appropriate for that time period,” Foster said.

“When that happened, however, there appears to have been little thought given to the appropriate HPC governance of HPD. Currently, HPC has very little ability to influence the chief or HPD and therefore HPC is a neutered organization that is considerably hampered from doing their job of ‘holding the chief accountable.’”

The criteria for selecting commissioners and the selection process is “flawed” and needs to be assessed as well, he said.

“My suggestion is that a small group of knowledgeable and unbiased people be assigned the responsibility of comprehensively assessing the entire HPD governance model and to make recommendations to the City Council,” Foster said.

This group would focus only on HPD governance, not on all commissions, she said. The Charter Commission is tasked with assessing all commissions and “I suggest that this mandate is too broad.”

Commissioners did not discuss the mayor’s move to take out Logan and make Moszkowicz HPD’s 13th chief, Silva told the Star-­Advertiser.

“The commission will accept all interested and qualified candidates cover letters and resumes for consideration,” said Silva, noting that as of Monday afternoon no one had applied to serve as interim HPD chief.

He and Blangiardi “had conversations regarding Chief Logan’s leadership at HPD.”

“The commission meets twice a month. Our next meeting is June 4. The commission, because of the sunshine (law), did not meet to discuss chief’s retirement (on Monday),” said Silva, noting the commission had just started to review Logan’s annual performance review. “Chief Logan didn’t let me know he was retiring until after the meeting he had with the mayor (on Monday).”

Logan’s last review from the commission in August said he was exceeding expectations as a leader, innovator and a cost saver while needing to improve internal and external communications.

Commissioner Ann Botticelli told the Star-Advertiser she learned of Logan’s retirement from the news media. She interviewed Moszkowicz as part of the chief selection process in 2022 and he “was a good candidate.”

“Having said that, I believe our responsibility is to invite others to also apply (internally and externally) and select the best candidate for the job,” she said.

Botticelli said it is a good idea to review how the commission is set up in general, to include a review of why it was first established in 1932. That review should include a look at what the roles and responsibilities of the commission are and whether they are still appropriate today.

Any consideration of overhauling the commission should also consider why voters rejected previous attempts to change the charter to give the mayor the same authority to hire and fire the police chief, Botticelli said.

“The larger question of who should be responsible for hiring and firing the chief should be part of that larger discussion,” she said.

Commissioner Doug Chin told the Star-Advertiser that he did not know Logan was retiring until “I heard the announcement on Monday around 4 p.m.

” … But I also had stepped down in January from being chair when my official term had expired and I became a holdover appointment. I hope to learn more at a future meeting,” Chin said.

Commissioners Elizabeth Char, Carrie K.S. Okinaga and Jeannine A. Souki did not reply to Star-Advertiser requests for comment.

All members serve staggered five-year terms and the panel “appoints and may remove the Chief of Police,” according to the city’s description of commissioners’ duties.

Commissioners review rules and regulations for the HPD’s administration, the annual budget and may make recommendations to the mayor.

The commission also receives, considers and “investigates charges brought by the public against the conduct of the department or any of its members” and submits a written report of its findings to the chief, who is responsible for the disciplinary process.