Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan has announced his resignation, leaving behind a police department with hundreds of long-term vacancies that are still a problem for city lawmakers.
The Honolulu City Council has been looking to reallocate money in the city’s budget to fund other projects, namely required sewer infrastructure upgrades on Oʻahu, and about $12.4 million could come from funds otherwise meant to hire for Honolulu Police Department jobs that are chronically vacant.
Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who chairs the council's Budget Committee, said HPD should have funds to fill those vacancies, but said there should be a closer look at the persistent shortage of both uniformed and civilian workers.
“I understand that being an officer, putting on the uniform, holding a gun, going out and dealing with the public takes a very special kind of person,” Dos Santos-Tam said.
“But to do the administrative work behind the scenes, you don't need to have a uniform, you don't need a badge, and you don't need a gun. And yet we struggle to fill these positions as well, which suggests to me that there is a larger, more systemic issue at play."
About 700 HPD positions are currently unfilled — about half uniformed officer jobs and half civilian jobs.
On Wednesday, the council is scheduled to cast its final vote on the city budget, determining how much HPD will get for its vacant positions. It will also consider a resolution to set up a task force specifically to analyze what is causing HPD's shortage and to come up with a plan to deal with that issue.
Councilmember Andria Tupola introduced the resolution and said the goal is to have a detailed plan to reduce officer shortages.
“No matter who the interim chief is, at least through the resolution and the task force, I will have confidence that a written plan is being created. That’s how you start any progress forward — you write down what you want to do to address the issue, and then you figure out how much each of the suggestions is going to cost, and then you itemize your budget so that you can implement change,” Tupola said.
The near future doesn't look promising, either. Tupola said that HPD police officer vacancies could reach 500 because some could retire after receiving their COVID-19 hazard pay in about a month.
Tupola believes retention efforts, which she said weren’t a focus for Logan, are also vital to properly addressing HPD's vacancies.
“ I've mentioned from day one that there is no recruitment without retention. If we're only worried about recruiting, we are pouring water into a bucket with holes because as quick as you recruit them, they leave,” she said.
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