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When Ron Taketa’s term ran out on the Honolulu Police Commission last December, there seemed to be precious few reasons to keep him around.

The traditionally toothless oversight group has been notable under Taketa’s chairmanship for its inability to do anything to curb the prevalence of misconduct within the department, standing silently by while egregious cases costing the city millions in legal settlements play out. It had also refused to respond in any meaningful way to Chief Louis Kealoha’s repeated missteps or even acknowledge an ongoing federal investigation that could have serious consequences for Honolulu’s top cop.

So we were among many who were pleasantly surprised Monday when we learned that Mayor Kirk Caldwell is finally replacing Taketa with former Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Steven Levinson. Caldwell, who had been sharply criticized by Civil Beat and others in recent months for his lack of attention to the commission, formally announced Levinson’s appointment Tuesday.

If confirmed by the City Council, Levinson will serve a term running through Dec. 31, 2020.

This is hardly trading one volunteer commission member for another. Taketa’s primary reason for serving always seemed political: He’s the leader of the state carpenters union, one of Hawaii’s largest labor groups — a useful affiliation for any Democratic mayoral candidate, which may explain why Taketa has served four non-consecutive terms dating back to 1989.

Levinson brings valuable experience and perspective to this position from a legal career spanning 37 years. That alone ought to encourage anyone who has been rightfully disappointed in the commission’s work. Here’s a bit about Levinson:

As a Supreme Court justice, Levinson not only earned respect for strong legal leadership and solid jurisprudence, he showed a fearless ability to break new ground. He famously became the first appellate judge in the nation to author an opinion that a state’s marriage law was unconstitutional for its discrimination against same-sex couples.

That was in 1993, two decades before the Hawaii Legislature passed our state’s marriage equality law and a full 22 years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled similarly, making same-sex marriage legal nationwide. It takes guts to be first, and history validated Levinson’s courage.

He ruled in many other matters, as well — 270, to be exact, including 230 in which he wrote the court’s opinion. Those decisions included cases involving police investigations, legal limits of police authority to search and seize property and more matters that will directly inform his work on the commission.

Levinson will join a commission that has already been disrupted from its normal somnolence by Caldwell’s recent appointment of Commissioner Loretta Sheehan. In just a few months on the commission, she has earned a well-deserved reputation for raising issues that her colleagues have preferred to ignore.

We hope Levinson will join Sheehan in that frank and direct inquiry into matters where the commission’s oversight has been AWOL. They won’t make up a majority of the seven-member group, but through candid and public conversation over matters that ought to concern the commission, the two might force their fellow commissioners to find their voices, as well as a new interest in “receiving, considering and investigating charges brought by the public against the conduct of the department or any of its members” — one of the Police Commission’s core mandates under the city charter.

If voters this fall improve that charter by approving Amendment 1, a newly emboldened policy commission would also have important new authority over the police chief’s service, as well as new investigatory power in police misconduct matters. An invigorated, empowered commission would hold major promise for the public that the Honolulu Police Department protects and serves

To be fair, Taketa deserves thanks for his service on the commission, as does any citizen serving in such a high-profile, important and often thankless volunteer government role. Caldwell, however, deserved the licks he took for failing to name a new appointment for nearly a year past Taketa’s expiration date and simply re-nominating appointees from his predecessors rather than bringing much-needed new blood to the commission.

But better late than never. Levinson and Sheehan represent important new steps toward a brighter future. We urge the City Council to confirm the former’s nomination and help usher in that new reality for Honolulu policing oversight.