HONOLULU (KHON2) — After Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced the retirement of Honolulu Police Department Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan, he offered his recommendation for interim chief: Benjamin Moszkowicz, who is currently serving as chief of the Hawaiʻi Police Department.
Blangiardi acknowledged that while he doesn’t have the “sole authority” to name the interim chief, he said he would “strongly recommend” Moszkowicz for the role. KHON2 spoke with Moszkowicz after the mayor’s announcement.
“The real work starts now — the real work of, you know, putting pen to paper and starting to meet with stakeholders and meet with community members and meet with members of the department…” Moszkowicz told KHON2.
He continued: “That ability, that opportunity, to kind of build those collaborative partnerships and find a path forward to make us all successful, is that’s, that’s the part that gets me really excited.”
Moszkowicz said he was “very humbled” by the mayor’s recommendation to have him serve as interim chief during “such an important transition period.”
Moszkowicz served in the Honolulu Police Department for 22 years and was appointed as police chief of the Hawaiʻi Police Department in January 2023. He told KHON2 that he has a “very intimate familiarity” with the inner workings of HPD and the laws in the state.
“I’m very aware of the challenges that Honolulu Police Department faces, and I think I have some quite unique opportunities and some unique ideas to to get over there, and at least on a temporary basis, to hopefully impact some of those things, specifically to help out the morale on the recruitment and the retention of the men and women in the police department, but also to start building community trust,” Moszkowicz said.
Moszkowicz said he is excited for the opportunity to serve as interim chief and said he hopes the personnel at the Honolulu Police Department have an “open mind” about his ideas for “moving the department forward.”
With Chief Joe Logan retiring on June 30, Blangiardi said Moszkowicz is set to take over as interim chief on July 16, pending approval from the Honolulu Police Commission.