The police officers’ union is calling on the Honolulu Police Department to hire more officers.
The president of The State of Hawaiʻi Organization of Police Officers says HPD is short 300 police officers to fully patrol Oʻahu neighborhoods.
Robert Cavaco said there has been a rise in violent crime. Compared to January of last year, there have been twice as many robberies on Oʻahu in 2022. Reported rape cases have increased by 60%.
Cavaco says the funding is there, but not being used for recruitment. "What the former chief did, she had acknowledged that there was a problem."
"She went to the City Council and asked for more funding to staff these beats and she got it. We're not seeing that right now. We want the police leadership to put this at the forefront. This is not deserving to our community. This is not deserving to our police officers to have beats like this going unfilled," Cavaco said.
When HPR asked Cavaco where the funding is being used, he said he did not know.
Susan Ballard was the last chief of HPD. Rade Vanic has been the interim police chief since June 2021, and a search for a new chief is underway.
