THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

34

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the department of education, in collaboration with the honolulu police department, to establish and operate a junior police pilot program at farrington high school.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Honolulu Police Department is suffering from a chronic staffing shortage; and

 

     WHEREAS, as of May 2022, the Honolulu Police Department had 1,828 sworn officers and three hundred forty-nine vacancies; and

 

     WHEREAS, worker shortages in the Honolulu Police Department leads to certain police beats understaffed; and

 

     WHEREAS, certain shifts in Department District 1, which includes Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown, and Kakaako, are staffed at only seventy-seven percent of its usual staffing needs; and

 

     WHEREAS, staffing shortages also limit the time police officers have to work with the community, preventing officers from building deep relationships with community members and business owners; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Honolulu Police Department is highly selective in its recruitment efforts to ensure that only the best, most qualified candidates become police officers that serve and protect local communities; and

 

     WHEREAS, in the last two years, just over five percent of the thousands of applicants who signed up to take the police entrance exam became police recruits; and

 

     WHEREAS, expanding the overall pool of quality applicants through a junior police pilot program at high schools will support the effort of the Honolulu Police Department to select qualified police recruits who meet the Department's high standards; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Honolulu Police Department, is requested to establish and operate a Junior Police Pilot Program at Farrington High School; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education, Chief of the Honolulu Police Department, and Principal of Farrington High School.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Department of Education; Honolulu Police Department; Junior Police Pilot Program; Farrington High School