Honolulu police chief list down to 13
Acting head and assistants among 8 candidates working for, or retired from, department
Eight current or former Honolulu Police Department officers are on a short list of candidates to succeed Chief Boisse Correa, who left in August.
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Deputy Chief Paul Putzulu, the acting chief, is among 13 candidates on the short list, said Honolulu Police Commission Chairwoman Christine Camp.
A written test was administered to 19 candidates, and 13 passed, Camp said yesterday.
According to several sources close to the search, other candidates still under consideration are assistant chiefs Randy Macadangdang, Debora Tandal and Delbert Tatsuyama, Maj. Mark Nakagawa and Capt. Louis Kealoha, as well as retired officer and federal Drug Enforcement Administration officer Thomas Aiu and retired captain and former state Sheriff John Lum.
One source close to the situation identified Tandal, Kealoha and Aiu as the leading candidates.
Both Tandal and Kealoha yesterday confirmed they are still under consideration. Tandal, 50, has 30 years on the force and heads the Support Services Division. Kealoha, 49, is a 26-year veteran and heads the Juvenile Services Division.
Other finalists reached by The Advertiser would not discuss their situations.
Of the 13, four are from the Mainland, Camp said, stressing that she does not know the names of all the candidates.
"They're independent of us; they're meeting on their own,"Camp said of the process to select the new chief.
A five-person selection committee is expected to send a list of finalists to the Police Commission by the third week of November, Camp said. The seven-member commission is hoping to make a final decision by Thanksgiving, she said.
Next week, the 13 candidates will go through the "assessment center" where candidates are asked how they would respond to real-life situations that confront a chief, Camp said.
The selection committee will also conduct an interviewing process and administer a psychological profile review before deciding on a narrower list, she said.
There were initially expected to be three to five finalists, but Camp said with 13 candidates at this point, there may be more finalists.
The commission will conduct its own interviews and make a final decision.
The finalist list will be made public and the commission will give the public a chance to comment on those remaining, Camp said.
The job pays $136,236 annually plus $2,496 in "standard of conduct" pay.
Correa left the force after the commission declined to grant him a new, five-year contract.
Mayor Mufi Hannemann said in July he believes a new chief can be found within HPD's ranks.
We need to keep an eye out to make sure that the "public opinion" stage does NOT pass un-utilized! In the meantime, how do we go about researching these people, and discovering their history of response to 2a situations?