Eight candidates to be interviewed for Hawai‘i County police chief
Eight finalists have been chosen to interview for chief of the Hawai‘i Island Police Department, with the search beginning after the resignation of Benjamin Mozskowicz on Aug. 31.
One candidate, Reed Mahuna, has been serving as interim chief. The only other candidate from the force is Assistant Chief Kenneth Quiocho.
The names were released Thursday morning on the agenda of the upcoming Hawai‘i County Police Commission meetings. The candidates will be interviewd in public at the meetings on Jan. 29 and 30 at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway.
The other candidates to be interviewed:
The candidates, in alphabetical order by last name, are:
- Chad Janis – Captain, Yakima Police Department, Washington
- Jennifer Krauss – Assistant Chief, Cheverly Police Department, Maryland
- Anthony Kumamaru – retired Lieutenant, Las Vegas Department of Public Safety, Nevada
- John Matagi – Captain, Washington State Patrol, Washington
- Timothy Wilson – former Chief of Police, Niue, Pacific Islands
- Paul Yang – retired Lieutenant, San Diego Police Department, California
Hawaiʻi County Human Resources reviewed the large number of applications and came up with 27 that met minimum qualifications. The 27 candidates were sent extensive interrogatory questions, created by the Police Commission, and 22 of those 27 returned their answers.
From the returned questionnaire, the commission whittled the number of finalists down to 11 in December. However, three candidates dropped out since then, leaving the final number to eight.
Timothy Wilson is the only candidate who has served as a police chief. Three of the candidates have severed as interim police chiefs — Mahuna, Janis and Krauss.
Janis and Krauss both served in that capacity after their respective police chiefs were put on administrative status following on-duty shootings.
In June, Moszkowicz submitted his resignation to become interim chief of the Honolulu Police Department after Honolulu City and County Mayor Rick Blangiardi recommended Moszkowicz for the interim position after the unexpected retirement of Joe Logan.
Moszkowicz, who was chief of the department for less than three years, quickly asked to rescind his resignation request. But the police commission voted 4-4 during a July meeting not to accept the retraction of his resignation.
The candidates for chief will be interviewed in alphabetical order, beginning at 9 a.m. inside the County Council Chambers. The interviews
To watch the meetings online, visit the following Zoom links:
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