Honolulu’s new police chief promised to make Honolulu “the safest community in America” at a swearing-in ceremony Thursday.
David Lazar, the former assistant police chief of San Francisco, began his position as Honolulu Police Chief Thursday with much pomp and circumstance, with state and county officials, and dozens of HPD officers, packed into the Mission Memorial Auditorium to witness him take his oath of office.
And although Lazar acknowledged he fights an uphill battle as the first Honolulu Police Chief hired from outside the department in 90 years, he and other speakers were optimistic about the future of HPD and the county.
“[HPD officers] require, deserve, and demand to have an exceptional lead at the helm,” said Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “I really believe that’s what we’re providing … I could not be more excited for all of you in the road ahead.”
Laurie Foster, chair of the Honolulu Police Commission, said Lazar stood out during the candidate selection process by virtue of his experience — he served with SFPD for 33 years — and his knowledge of 21st Century policing, but also because of his humility. She said although Lazar comes to HPD as an outsider, he expressed a desire to collaborate with the community, rather than impose his will upon it.
“Can an outsider come to Honolulu and … will this community accept this outsider?” Foster said. “We all know Hawai‘i can be a little brutal if they don’t [accept someone] sometimes. But … we thought that, given the humility, the style of this leader … we should make this decision.”
Lazar said Thursday that the HPD rank-and-file have his total support and that he wants to create a department where the officers feel the leadership has their backs. After his swearing-in ceremony, he said his first task was to visit stations around the island to listen to the concerns of his officers and staff: he said his “listening and learning tour” would begin later Thursday with a visit to HPD’s 911 dispatch center, followed by a visit to Wai‘anae Police Station that evening.
Lazar said the decision to visit Wai‘anae first was made in order to demonstrate that he is listening to West O‘ahu officers, as well.
As far as planned changes to HPD, Lazar did not get into specifics Thursday, although he reiterated many of the goals he spoke about during the run-up to his selection: he said at modernizing the department with new technologies, improving working conditions of HPD officers, developing more data-driven approaches, building transparency, and more.
“We have a lot of work to do, but we have to be very methodical in terms of what we implement,” Lazar said Thursday. “We don’t want to do too much change too fast and we don’t want to do no change. We want to make sure that the pace is acceptable to the members of this department.”
And once again, Lazar promised that when he leaves the department, the next Honolulu Police Chief will be chosen from within HPD.
“I have met the talent, and the talent is here at HPD,” Lazar said. “You will be ready for the moment, as I am today.”
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