The new head of the Honolulu Police Department will likely be chosen today, despite criticism of the selection process and calls by City Council members to delay a decision.

"We expect to have a chief selection" today, said Police Commission Chairwoman Christine Camp, who spent much of yesterday with other members of the commission conducting final interviews of candidates.

Camp added that she would attend a City Council meeting this morning to address members, some of whom have been critical of the addition of two semifinalists to the list of candidates for police chief late in the process.

She defended the process yesterday, saying, "It's been fair. It's been transparent. We've done it by the books."

Two weeks ago, the commission named six finalists for police chief, even though a selection committee recommended only four candidates.

Two of the selection committee members then resigned in protest.

Camp, the president and chief executive officer of Avalon Group, a Honolulu development, consulting and real estate company, has been at the center of the controversy over the decision to broaden the lists of finalists for police chief.

Yesterday, she responded to criticism of the decision to add two names, saying, "From a perspective of the citizens of the city, they should be happy that we have a broader pool (of applicants). I've never seen a controversy about a broader pool."

In Hawai'i's business community, Camp is known as hard-working — sometimes obsessively so — and someone to watch over the next decade. An immigrant from South Korea to the Islands at 9 years old, Camp worked her way through college and up the corporate ladder (first at Castle and Cooke, then A&B Properties), before founding Avalon.

Camp was elected chairwoman of the Police Commission in 2007, by its members.

ACTIVE ON BOARDS

Over the past several years, she has headed a slew of other public and private boards, including the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i, the Building Industry Association and the Hawai'i Developers Council. In 2005, she co-chaired the team that oversaw the selection of the mayor's Cabinet, and in 2004, she co-chaired U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's campaign.

Hawaii Business magazine and Pacific Business News both have spotlighted her.

"She's very well known in the business community and very well regarded," said Jim Tollefson, president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i.

The Police Commission will meet at 2 p.m. to vote on a chief.

At 10 a.m., the City Council will meet to hear from Camp and to consider several resolutions, including one that would voice a vote of "no confidence" in Camp and one that would ask for the establishment of an investigative committee to look into the process.

A third would request that the selection of a police chief be delayed.

The council has no say in who is selected police chief; the decision is entirely up to the commission, whose members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. The commission, an independent body created by city charter, is also tasked with evaluating the police chief and making recommendations to the chief on his department's budget and five-year plan.

PROCESS ATTACKED

Councilman Donovan De-la Cruz, Public Safety Committee chairman, said the council is getting involved in the police chief debate to "ensure credibility for the department" and "confidence in government."

Councilman Charles Djou has also raised questions about the process.

"I want to know what the heck's going on," Djou said. "Why did she think it was necessary to add two names. On appearances alone, it certainly does not look good."

Council members were hoping to get some of their questions about the process answered Monday, when Camp had been scheduled to appear before the council's Public Safety Committee. Camp didn't appear, and yesterday said she had informed the council she wouldn't be able to make it because she was interviewing police chief candidates.

She said she informed Dela Cruz by phone and e-mail that she would not be able to attend Monday's meeting. But in a letter to Dela Cruz last week, Camp said she was willing to meet with Dela Cruz's committee, though not on the day they had selected.

The council took the no-show as another bizarre twist in a process, they say, that rank-and-file police officers and members of the public are increasingly eyeing with suspicion. But Camp said the controversy has been overblown and is a misunderstanding.

She said she plans to clear up any questions at the meeting today.

"We have some amazingly qualified candidates," she said.

The four original finalists are acting Chief Paul Putzulu, HPD Capt. Louis Kealoha, Phoenix police Cmdr. Harry Markley and Chicago police Cmdr. Gary Yamashiroya. The two added later are HPD assistant chiefs Delbert Tatsuyama and Debora Tandal.