Newly appointed Honolulu Police Chief David Lazar says he wants to expand the Honolulu Police Department to support a growing city.
Lazar on Wednesday gave the Honolulu Police Commission his goals for the first three months of his tenure. His focus was on addressing familiar HPD issues, such as community trust, modernization and chronic understaffing.
As part of that update, he said he’s already shoring up recruitment officers and background investigators. He also wants to streamline the hiring process, saying that hires should be made within 90 days.
The increased effort to recruit to HPD will help fill the roughly 450 uniformed vacancies in the department — and even grow the department.
HPD’s current standard for being fully staffed is having about 2,200 officers, but Lazar said that number should be higher.
“Is that the real number? Is it lower or is it higher? I would say it should be higher,” Lazar said. “We had a presentation today in the city about growth and housing and more buildings and all the things we need, and that means more police. That means more calls for service. So we really have to get a little bit more scientific as to what that number is.”
Another focus of the plan Lazar presented Wednesday to the commission was integrating technology into how HPD conducts its work.
A program he said will launch in August will use drones as first responders to 911 calls. They’ll be first used in District 1, which includes Chinatown, Ala Moana and surrounding neighborhoods, and District 5, which extends west to Salt Lake.
The state Department of Law Enforcement is already using drones for enforcement purposes.
“When a serious call comes over the radio, we're able to deploy the drone and support the officers in the field,” Lazar said.
HPD will form a technology advisory committee to help guide its modernization efforts, and that will be included in Lazar’s update to the department’s strategic plan.
Included in that guidance will be how HPD uses artificial intelligence. Last Oct., Interim Police Chief Rade Vanic announced that the department would explore using AI to write police reports.
