CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Police Chief Lee Donohue during yesterday's interview.
HPD Chief Donohue Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue is just starting his second five-year term as the city's top cop, but he is already hinting that he may retire before it ends.
might retire early
His health and goals will
help determine whether he will
serve out his five-year termBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com"Who knows, two-and-a-half, three years. It depends on what we're looking at here. There are many factors involved," Donohue told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin yesterday.
Donohue said his first and foremost consideration is his health. In his second year as chief, in September 1999, Donohue suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. An internal defibrillator was implanted in Donohue's chest and he has recovered to the point that he said he is able to do everything he did before his collapse.
Donohue, 60, said another consideration is whether he is able to accomplish the goals he set for the department when he accepted the job as chief in 1998. At the time, Donohue said he expected to remain on the job three to five years. Although there are some goals that have not been met, Donohue said he is proud of what the department has already accomplished.
"I just look forward to the next term here as enjoying a lot of the fruits of all of the labor we put in the last five years," he said.
One goal that has not been reached is accreditation. But that could come later this year. A team from the Commission Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies will be in Honolulu later this month to evaluate the Honolulu Police Department. HPD has been preparing for the visit for nearly three years.
The Honolulu Police Commission re-appointed Donohue to his second five-year term last April, one year before the end of his first term. He was scheduled to be sworn in this morning.
"He's done an excellent job and so he deserves the re-appointment regardless of whether he stays the full time or not. We hope he does," commission chairman Ronald Taketa said yesterday.
The commissioners praised Donohue for the reduction of citizen complaints to the commission, for the drop in violent crime, the security measures and the handling of protests during the Asian Development Bank meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center in May 2001, and for promptly reporting to them allegations of a cell block food scandal.
Donohue lists among the department's accomplishments:
>> The implementation of the three-day, 12-hour work schedule for patrol officers.The 800-megahertz communication system, which cost more than $40 million, was supposed to give officers access to automobile registration and warrants through laptop computers in the field. But after experiencing problems transmitting both voice communications and data over the system, Donohue said, the department plans to establish a separate system to give officers access to registration and warrants through mobile computers.>> Establishment of Weed and Seed programs in Downtown Honolulu, Kalihi and Waipahu.
>> Improving communication within the department and with the public.
>> Technology upgrades including a digital communication system which Donohue said is a huge improvement over the old analog radio system.
The department also experienced some embarrassments during Donohue's first term as chief:
>> Five officers were convicted for the 1995 beating of a prisoner in the department's main cellblock and subsequent cover-up."All of this that occurred started prior to my taking over. But in every case, in every allegation of wrongdoing, no matter who it involved, we did not cover it up," Donohue said.>> Two retired police officers admitted accepting thousands of dollars in overtime for work they did not perform at HPD's airport detail.
>> Civilian employees in the department's vehicle maintenance section admitted purchasing auto parts from a vendor at inflated prices in exchange for kickbacks
>> Two high-ranking police officers, an assistant police chief and a major, pleaded no contest to theft charges for serving expensive cuts of meats to officers purchased with money meant for prisoner meals.
Honolulu Police Department
