Maj. Reed Mahuna said he’s “very humbled” by Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz’s decision to appoint him acting deputy police chief for the Hawaii Police Department, effective July 1.
“Up until six months ago, I never met Chief Moszkowicz before,” Mahuna told the Tribune-Herald on Monday afternoon. “We may have seen each other in passing in a few meetings, but I never spoke with him.
“We’ve worked together now for six months, and he’s decided to put his faith in me.”
Mahuna, a 25-year veteran of the department, most recently served as major of Area I (East Hawaii) Operations. In that position, he oversees the Criminal Investigation Division, which includes Vice, Juvenile Aid and the Criminal Investigation Sections, as well as the crime lab.
Prior to that he served as major of the Technical Services Division, which includes the department’s Communications Dispatch Center, Communications Maintenance Section, Computer Center, Records and Identification Section, and Traffic Services Section.
“It’s taken me awhile to wrap my head around what everybody’s abilities are and whose personality meshes with my own,” said Moszkowicz, who was a major in the Honolulu Police Department before being sworn in as the Big Island’s top cop in January. “I found in Maj. Mahuna someone with a high degree of integrity, who I trust, and who seems like he can do a really great job.
“So, he’s my man.”
Moszkowicz said the decision by the department announced in May to implement certain pickup truck models as taxpayer-subsidized police vehicles was Mahuna’s brainchild.
“That was all him. He was a proponent of it,” the chief said. “And I told him, ‘It sounds like a great idea; I don’t have any fundamental problems with it. You take the ball and run and keep me informed.’
“He went out and put it all together, and it impressed me with the way he was able to do it. I trust his judgment, and I’ll look to him for advice quite a bit.”
Mahuna said there are practical reasons for using pickup trucks that will allow local police to “better serve the community and be more efficient in the way we conduct our business.”
“When we would go and pick up larger pieces of evidence — let’s say bicycles or shopping carts — a lot of times, you wouldn’t have a truck available to do it,” Mahuna said. “And there was a time that districts had pickup trucks assigned to them. But through attrition, those trucks don’t exist anymore. So, I think the time was right.
“There are also some remote areas, Waipio Valley, areas in Hamakua and North Kohala, as well as Puna, that a pickup truck is more advantageous to get there.”
Mahuna has had a front-row seat to police administration. His father is Lawrence Mahuna, who retired as Hawaii County’s police chief in 2008 after 36 years in the department.
“I grew up in a police family. I saw firsthand a lot of the work my father did and I couldn’t be prouder,” he said.
The reason Mahuna will be acting deputy chief instead of being sworn into the position by the Hawaii County Police Commission is a matter of compensation, Moszkowicz said. The chief and deputy chief — whose salaries are set by the county Salary Commission — usually take a pay cut to assume those positions permanently, as Moszkowicz did.
“Right now, there’s a salary inversion,” Moszkowicz said. “Majors and assistant chiefs earn a significantly higher salary than the chief and deputy. And (the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers) and Civil Service have continued to give longevity increases — which are well-deserved, I’m not complaining. But because of that, the disparity continues to grow.”
“So, if I were to appoint Maj. Mahuna as the official deputy chief, he would take a substantial pay cut.
So, I talked to Human Resources, and they affirmed that if I put him in a temporary assignment until the salary inversion is repaired — which is, hopefully, some time later this year — then he can continue to collect his Civil Service pay while he acts in the capacity of the deputy chief.
“The ‘acting’ part, I took it to the Police Commission last Friday and told them in executive session, ‘Here’s my plan, and here’s what I want to do.’
“And they affirmed that I have the authority to do this.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
