Applications for Hawai‘i County’s police chief open in October

Hawaiʻi County will post on Oct. 5 the opening for its police chief, a position that has been vacant since Aug. 31 with the resignation of Benjamin Moszkowicz.

The nine-member Hawai‘i County Police Commission discussed the timing of the job posting for police chief as well as minimum requirements during its monthly meeting, which was held Friday at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center.

The police commission unanimously waived the one-year residency requirement to avoid any litigation issues from individuals who might challenge that requirement, which is outlined in the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes.

In July, the police commission appointed Reed Mahuna to serve as acting police chief until a new person is hired.

John Bertsch, vice chair of the police commission, said Hawaiʻi County will have some competition vying for top qualified candidates with Honolulu and Kauaʻi counties also seeking new police chiefs.

“If we want to address and present and interview the top candidates within the state and possibly within the nation, it behooves us to be as aggressive as possible,” Bertsch said.

Salary for police chief is estimated to be about $200,000 a year for the position.

Minimum requirements include:

• Being a citizen of the United States.

• Having a minimum of five years of training and experience in law enforcement work, including at least three years in a responsible administrative capacity [Hawai‘i County Charter, Article VII, Chapter 2, Section 7-2.3]

• Having a valid State of Hawai‘i driver’s license (class 3) or any other valid comparable driver’s license at the time of filing.

Commission Member Jacob Tavares said he wants a chief who is committed to Hawai‘i County.

Since the department was established in 1943, there have been 13 police chiefs, including two with acting chief titles.

Bertsch said time is of the essence of hiring the next chief.

“It’s very important for the officers in the department to have a duly selected chief as soon as possible,” he said. “We have the guidelines. We’ve done this recently. I trust this commission … to make good choices.”

Bertsch, who has been involved with the hiring of the last five chiefs for the county, said the process itself is “pretty standardized.”

“We just need to move forward in an expeditious manner,” he said. “To drag it out for a long time is not going to be helpful for anyone.”

Sinclair Salas-Ferguson, an attorney with the county’s Corporation Counsel, informed the commission that the Human Resources Department will review the applications for minimum qualifications and then the commission members decide what interrogatory questions they want to ask those individuals.

“Once the answers come back, then it’s for the commission to decide who they want to interview,” Salas-Ferguson said.

The goal is to whittle applicants down to five candidates that will be interviewed in person, Police Commission Chair Rick Robinson said.

“The goal is to be as transparent as possible in the process,” Robinson added.

Nearly three years ago, Moszkowicz was selected out of a pool of 44 candidates.

The police chief job posting will be open until Oct. 31.

“The Police Commission owes it to the men and women of the department to get them a chief as soon as possible,” Robinson said.