HILO » Harry Kubojiri, the deputy chief of the Hawaii County Police Department who created a Special Response team, has been selected to become the new chief effective Jan. 1, the department announced.

The selection was the unanimous decision of the county Police Commission in a meeting held Wednesday evening. The only other contender for the position was retired Capt. Chadwick Fukui.

Kubojiri, who joined the department as a recruit in 1979, has been deputy since 2002. He will succeed Lawrence Mahuna, who retires Dec. 31 after 36 years with the department.

Kubojiri commanded the Special Response Team—a SWAT-style unit—from 2000 to 2006.

A concern he has now is lack of experience among younger officers. “;We have a whole lot of officers who are fresh and green,”; he said.

Two factors contributed to that. Older officers are retiring, and the department has been understaffed for many years, he said. Understaffing means the relatively few experienced officers are too busy “;putting out fires”; to “;mentor”; younger ones, he said.

Kubojiri hoped to obtain money to “;train the trainers,”; but tough economic times have placed that in question. “;I still haven't given up hope,”; he said.

In staffing, the department is now down about 40 officers, but 30 recruits are in training so staffing will be nearly full soon, he said.

Kubojiri has also been concerned about maintaining good relations with the news media to avoid the outright hostility between them that existed in previous decades.

He has held a series of quarterly meeting between police and press and will hold another early next year, he said.