Hawaii County police chief applicants narrowed down to 11

JOHN BURNETT/TRIBUNE-HERALD

Commission Chairman Rick Robinson, whose term expires at the end of the month, chaired his final meeting of the Hawaii County Police Commission Friday in Hilo. He said that the new Hawaii County police chief will be selected on Jan.30.

Eleven candidates for the Hawaii Police Department’s vacant chief position will receive invitations to be interviewed next month by the Hawaii County Police Commission.

The interviews are scheduled to be held Jan. 29-30 at the Council Chambers of the West Hawaii Civic Center in Kailua-Kona.

Each interview will be conducted in public and in person. None will be conducted online. Applicants will not be allowed to be inside the chambers while others are being interviewed.

Commission Chairman Rick Robinson, who presided over his final meeting Friday, told the Hawaii Tribune- Herald during a break at Friday’s commission meeting in Hilo that the new chief will be selected at the end of the process on Jan. 30.

The job offer will be contingent on a vetting process which includes a background check, psychological exam and polygraph test.

The search for a new chief was necessitated by the commission’s acceptance of an emailed resignation in July by then-Chief Ben Moszkowicz. Moszkowicz attempted to withdraw the resignation, but was rebuffed by a commission vote.

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Deputy Chief Reed Mahuna, who was in attendance Friday, remains the interim chief as the search continues.

Michelle Simmons, head of the county’s Human Resources Recruitment Division, told the commission Friday that out of about 40 applicants, 27 met the county’s minimum standards and were sent candidate questionnaires, and 22 completed and returned those written queries.

There was a spirited discussion about how many candidates the commission should interview based on the questionnaire scores. In the end, commissioners settled on inviting the top 11 applicants.

Off-island candidates who accept the invitation will have to pay for their own airfare, lodging and meals while on-island.

Commissioner Lloyd Enriquez said the financial outlay by candidates to travel here for an interview would signal “a commitment” to the community.

Testifier Patti Cook of Waimea said she hopes the commission will select “a chief who is connected to this community and understands our values, which is incredibly important.”

“I would implore you to prioritize that in the process,” Cook said. “I believe that hiring local is advantageous to us.”

Calling it “the most important thing the commission does,” software engineer Sam Guckenheimer told commissioners “there are people absolutely watching the new chief’s selection.”

“This is an opportunity to reset and to create public awareness of what you are looking for in a new chief, what values you are looking for, how you are selecting them — and to get responses on the record for the short-listed candidates, so you can hear from the community,” Guckenheimer testified. “I implore you to take advantage of this opportunity for a reset, to let the community have some insight into the selection process and to let us know what the values being sought are.

“We have been typing testimony and using our voices, but the chief selection process … remains a black box,” he added.

During testimony, cannabis activist Roger Christie asked if the identities of the applicants for police chief are still confidential.

“Yes, they are still confidential,” replied Robinson.

“Until what point?” Christie asked.

“Until we decide to make them public,” Robinson said.

Commissioner Eileen Lacerte responded to testimony that questioned or criticized the commission’s transparency in its selection process.

“I hope this process has shown you how much detail and time and hours we’ve put in this,” Lacerte said. “We then fight about it, as it’s supposed to be. From some of your public comments, it sounded like we were ghosting you. Because some of this is personal information, we can’t say it out loud. But we’ve put hours and hours and hours and hours into this process.

“But the most important thing I want to mention to you is we did hear you.”

The commission on Friday also appointed Commissioner Greg Yamada to succeed Robinson as the chair and Commissioner Wendy Botelho to succeed John Bertsch — who wasn’t present — as vice chair, both by unanimous 8-0 votes. Both Robinson’s and Bertsch’s appointments expire at year’s end.

Commission member Arthur Buckman’s appointment expires at the end of January, but he indicated during the meeting he will likely not be present at the two-day meeting to help select a new chief.

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