Pop quiz:

Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan’s sudden announcement that he’s stepping down was surprising because:

a) The Police Commission thought he was fabulous.

b) People who aren’t good at their jobs usually keep them for a long time in this town (unless their job has to do with UH sports.)

c) This chief wasn’t even being indicted or anything.

d) Mayor Rick Blangiardi walked him to the end of the plank and made him jump.

A possible answer would be “All of the above,” but I’m going with

d) The mayor made him do it.

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That’s surprising because Honolulu has seen a long line of mayors before this one who did not get their hands dirty dealing with a problematic chief and instead pointed to the Honolulu Police Commission and saying, “It’s all on them. Not me.”

Blangiardi took action and took responsibility.

“At the end of the day, I don’t have sole authority as a mayor to hire and fire, but I can certainly have the kind of conversations I had with respect to the leadership of the department, and that’s exactly what I exercise,” Blangiardi told the media.

And as he was explaining to the media that he didn’t fire the chief but merely talked to him, there was a photograph in the background of the current mayor posing with former Mayor Frank Fasi.

How appropriate. Fasi was a leader who didn’t wait for permission to do what he felt needed to be done.

Maybe it’s the East Coast upbringing of both Fasi and Blangiardi that inspires this style of leadership. In other cities, mayors are expected to take charge, not sit tamely behind a desk in a dry-cleaned aloha shirt wondering why something big went down with the police and they never got a call.

Give Blangiardi credit for knowing where the public vibe is. He knows what people are angry about and it’s not that he overstepped his authority.

They’re angry about not enough cops on the force. They’re angry when they realize the burglar who broke into their house, rifled through their underwear drawer and stole Grandpa’s watch will never be caught or even investigated because our police department doesn’t work like the ones on TV.

They’re angry about sober people getting arrested for driving under the influence. They’re angry that there have been 31 traffic deaths this year as compared to 14 at this time last year.

The people of Oʻahu — the folks shopping in WalMart Pearl City or Savers Kalihi, the people picking plumeria for graduation lei and making vats of noodles for graduation parties, the folks sitting in traffic trying to get home to Waipahu or Mililani or Hawaiʻi Kai or Kāneʻohe and watching some whacked-out driver weave in and out of traffic — those people want a police force they can count on, period.

A bit of handwringing about Blangiardi overstepping his authority by persuading Logan to take retirement is understandable, though. The way the city charter is written gives the power to hire and fire the police chief to the police commission. People in Hawaiʻi don’t tend to like their politicians stepping out of line, either.

But what voters really hate is a police department that is clearly not operating at or near 100% with over 450 job vacancies, a guy chosen for the top job who can’t do the job with any sense of urgency or passion or inspiring leadership. Voters hate seeing increasing violence in some sectors of the island while the police commission doesn’t seem to see what’s going on. Heck yeah, the mayor stepped in, and mahalo nui braddah Blange for doing what had to be done.

Logan’s tenure as chief was never an action-oriented endeavor. It was about saying the minimum and hoping for the best.

Let’s hope the next chief is better than the last three. It’s been a rough bunch of years for our police force, collectively. They are called to serve our community in ways us civilians can’t even imagine, and they deserve a top flight police department as much as the public does.

Extra credit question:

The media coverage this week quickly shifted from Logan’s surprise announcement to focusing on Blangiardi overstepping his authority because:

a) It was a slow news week on Oʻahu.

b) The police commission members were kinda’ shame because the mayor made them look bad.

c) The mayor overstepped and nobody cared, so policy wonks tried to make people care.

d) All of the above, but it doesn’t matter because we’ll be fixated on pulling apart the next chief-to-be in no time.