The Honolulu Police Department ceremonially swore in its newest police chief, Joe Logan, and his deputy chiefs at a public event held Wednesday.

Logan took the oath of office, which was administered by 1st Circuit Court Judge Edward Kubo, alongside Rade Vanic, who previously served the department as interim chief, and Keith Horikawa at Mission Memorial Auditorium.

The ceremony comes about two weeks after Logan and his deputy chiefs were sworn in during a private ceremony on June 14 shortly after Logan passed his preemployment screening.

The lack of publicity for that ceremony raised concerns about transparency, which the department tried to dispel by saying it was a formality to let Logan begin working and promising the formal ceremony that was held Wednesday.

Among those in attendance on Wednesday were dozens of HPD officers and their families, Honolulu Police Commission Chair Shannon Alivado, retired Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donahue and representatives of the state police union.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi gave a brief address after the trio was sworn in.

“This is a very important moment in our city’s history today, swearing in our chief and his deputy chiefs,” Blangiardi said. “This is an amazingly challenging role.”

Logan, who was chosen by the police commission to be the department’s next chief on May 23, vowed to bring lasting change to the department, which has been plagued by the conviction of former police chief Louis Kealoha on corruption charges, high-profile shootings and multimillion dollar lawsuits over the years.

“It it is my goal to create real change and enduring change while increasing one step at a time from a walk to a full run as quickly as possible,” Logan said in his remarks. He didn’t take questions from the media.

Logan, a retired major general with the military who had been working as a criminal investigator with the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, said that he decided to apply to become Honolulu’s next police chief following conversations with a former classmate and his wife.

“The rest will be written in the history books or at least downstairs in the museum,” Logan joked.

Logan was selected to be the city’s police chief from a field of more than 20 initial candidates after former Chief Susan Ballard retired last summer amid criticism over her performance.

His resume includes 41 years of military service and two decades with the Honolulu Police Department, from 1982 to 2002, where he rose to the rank of sergeant after working as a detective for the department’s Criminal Investigation Division.

“The Honolulu Police Department I left has changed in stature and size and pay,” Logan said. “What has remained the same though is the camaraderie, the determination and the drive to want to be a police officer.”