ÌìÃÀÊÓƵ

UPDATED 4/22/11 3:58 p.m.

Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha says the department is reviewing whether it’s complying with the law when it comes to public records.

Kealoha revealed the department is engaged in legal research to determine what it is required to share under Hawaii law.

In an April 12 letter to City Council member Tom Berg‘s office, Kealoha wrote that the Honolulu Police Department’s policy on records disclosures has “never been challenged” until it faced questions from Civil Beat.

“The disclosure law and the Honolulu Police Department’s (“HPD”) policy have never been challenged before and, as a result we have been reviewing our practices to ensure HPD is in compliance with the law,” Kealoha wrote. “We are mindful of the importance of transparency yet careful not to violate our obligation to protect the identity of certain officers because of assignment sensitivity.”

Berg had requested an update from the police chief on the status of HPD policies referenced in a Civil Beat article with the headline, “Honolulu Police Union Wants Entire Force to Be Secret.”

Here’s the letter he wrote to Kealoha:

For more than half a year, Civil Beat has pushed for access to records detailing police officers’ names, job titles and salaries. The state Office of Information Practices in September advised the city that the state’s Uniform Information Practices Act “requires the city to disclose the name, title and salaries for all city employees…unless an employee is or was in an undercover law enforcement activity.”

Every state agency in Hawaii and every other Honolulu agency has complied with the law and released that information — detailing the names, job titles and salaries of corrections officers, prosecutors, sheriffs and others. The Honolulu Police Department has not even released the names, salaries and job titles of its civilian employees. However in response to a number of requests from Civil Beat, the department has released information about undercover officers, without explaining its thinking.

Kealoha wrote that his handling of the matter is consistent with the protection of “both the interests of the public and HPD’s officers.”

Kealoha also addressed how long it has taken to handle this still-unresolved dispute.

“We are doing our best to address these issues in a timely matter, but are proceeding at a rate dictated by the legal research involved.”

Here’s the complete letter:

Attempts to reach HPD for comment on Friday were unsuccessful. It was a furlough day for HPD public affairs.

UPDATE Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu later emailed to Civil Beat this response, on behalf of HPD Capt. Andrew Lum: “In our letter to Councilmember Tom Berg’s office, we did not state that we were reviewing the department’s policy on disclosures. Instead, we stated that we are reviewing our practices. Quite simply, we are discussing the issue of past or present undercover officers with the Corporation Counsel to establish a best practice that conforms with the law.”