Honolulu voters may have the chance in November to change how future police chiefs get selected and how citizen complaints against police officers are handled. 

A subcommittee of the Honolulu Charter Commission released a report Tuesday recommending two proposals to change the City Charter, which is basically the city’s constitution. One would shift the power to hire and fire the chief to the mayor and another would establish a civilian oversight office to investigate complaints against police officers. 

The report, by what’s known as a permitted interaction group made up of six of the commission’s 13 members, is the first step in putting a ballot question before voters. The report still needs to be presented to the full commission which then is expected to hold hearings. A vote on it likely would come next month.

Changing how the police chief is selected is based in large part on a proposal submitted by the Blangiardi administration. Mayor Rick Blangiardi has argued he should have the direct oversight of the police chief because, ultimately, the mayor needs to answer for the actions of the chief.   

“I think the mayor should have the say,” Blangiardi told the Civil Beat Editorial Board last year. “Authority minus responsibility equals irresponsibility.” 

The second proposal, submitted by a coalition of more than two dozen public safety advocacy organizations, would address community concerns about a lack of accountability for officers who violate department policies or even commit crimes. 

Some community watchdog groups have long complained that the Honolulu Police Commission does little to actually hold police accountable. A 2024 audit of the commission found it lacks a transparent complaint review process and often doesn’t even follow up with the department to find out what, if any, disciplinary action was taken against a cop accused of wrongdoing. 

Commissioners themselves have acknowledged they lack the power and resources to adequately oversee the department. The commission is made up of unpaid volunteers. In 2024, then-commission Chair Doug Chin said in a letter to the Honolulu auditor that it is difficult for the commission to complete its duties while also honoring a city charter provision that says the commission should not interfere with the Honolulu Police Department’s administrative affairs.

The proposed charter amendment, if it goes before voters, would come too late to influence the hiring of Honolulu’s next chief, who is set to be selected next month. 

However, it would allow future mayors to appoint the police chief from a list of three candidates compiled by the Honolulu Police Commission. The Honolulu City Council would then have to vote on the mayor’s pick. 

The proposals recommended by the Charter Commission’s permitted interaction group are scheduled to be presented to the full Charter Commission at a meeting on Monday. Other proposals did not make the cut, such as one that would have changed how police commissioners are selected. Other rejected proposals that also dealt with police chief’s hiring and expanding the capabilities of the Police Commission were thrown out because they were deemed redundant, according to the report. 

The recommended proposals would not be discussed or voted on at Monday’s meeting. That would happen at another meeting, which has not yet been scheduled but can take place no sooner than six days from Monday’s meeting, said J Ching-Irvine, administrative aide for the Honolulu Charter Commission. 

The Charter Commission is hoping to finalize ballot questions by mid-August. The questions will appear on ballots for the Nov. 3 election. 

Voters have the chance to amend the city’s charter through ballot measures once every 10 years.  

Increasing The Chief’s Qualifications

In addition to shifting hiring authority to the mayor, the proposed charter amendment would increase the requirements for police chief applicants to 15 years of experience in law enforcement, including five years in an administrative capacity. Five of the years of service would have to be with a department in a city of at least 100,000 people. 

Current applicants are only required to have five years of law enforcement experience, three of which were in an administrative role. The requirements also don’t specify the size of the department where the applicant needs to have served. 

This police chief search included an applicant who oversees a five-person department, Honolulu Police Commission Chair Laurie Foster said during last week’s meeting. 

Increasing the size requirement ensures “future leadership possesses the necessary metropolitan experience,” the Charter Commission subcommittee wrote in its report. 

Shifting the hiring and firing power of the chief to the mayor would “enhance public accountability,” commissioners said in their report. 

Mayor Blangiardi was unavailable to comment Tuesday, spokesman Scott Humber said in an email.

Currently, the Honolulu Police Commission is responsible for hiring the chief. The mayor appoints people to the seven-member commission, which conducts annual evaluations of the chief and can vote to remove a chief before the end of his or her five-year term. 

The commission is nearing the end of its hiring process after former Chief Joe Logan quit last June. 

This week, commissioners decided to advance six candidates from a list of 11 applicants recommended by a California consultant hired to help with the recruiting process. The six semi-finalists will be interviewed by panels of government and community leaders on May 5.

Commission Chair Laurie Foster last week released the names of 20 people who have confirmed their participation on those panels. 

Investigative Power 

The Charter Commission subcommittee also recommended a proposal that would establish the Office of Civilian Police Investigations as an investigative arm of the Police Commission. 

The office would have a budget of $1.8 million to $2.8 million and consist of 12 to 15 paid investigators and a data analyst tasked with investigating complaints of police misconduct, according to Liam Chinn, a public safety consultant who was involved with drafting the proposal on behalf of the Reimaging Public Safety Coalition. 

The office would significantly increase the investigative powers of the police commission, which currently has just four investigator positions.

The civilian office would conduct investigations parallel to the Honolulu Police Department’s own internal reviews, and the Police Commission would have final authority to resolve any disputed outcomes. 

The investigative office would also have the power to make policy recommendations for the department, a power the Police Commission currently lacks. 

Ultimately, the office, with its increased resources and capacity to handle investigations, would hopefully bring more accountability to the department and reduce systemic misconduct and costly lawsuits, Chinn said. 

“It’s a smart investment in preventing misconduct payments the city is already making every year,” he said. “This is about fixing a system that is already costing the city millions.” 

The cost of police misconduct payouts has gone up in recent years, which has also caused the price of the city’s liability insurance to rise. Honolulu’s liability insurance premiums rose from $2 million in fiscal year 2019 to $10 million in fiscal year 2022. 

In 2024, the city paid a record $12.5 million settlement to a man injured in a 2021 police pursuit crash in Makaha. 

Chinn said having an office that can thoroughly investigate and track reports of misconduct can help identify patterns, hold bad actors accountable and ultimately increase public trust in the police department. That can in turn make the department a more desirable place to work and help with recruitment, he said. 

“Research shows that departments that have issues with systemic misconduct, high-profile corruption cases, they struggle to recruit,” he said. “The proposal addresses this at the root by strengthening independent oversight, reducing systemic misconduct and rebuilding the credibility necessary to restore staffing and public confidence.”