STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1678

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 34

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 34 entitled:

"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,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Honolulu Police Department, to establish and operate a Junior Police Pilot Program at Farrington High School.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two individuals.

Your Committees find that the Honolulu Police Department is suffering from a chronic staffing shortage, with three hundred forty-nine vacancies as of May 2022. For shifts in certain districts such as Department District 1, which includes Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown, and Kakaako, staffing is only at seventy-seven percent. Staffing shortages limit the time police officers have to work with the community, preventing officers from building deep relationships with community members and business owners.

Your Committees further find that 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. However, in the last two years, approximately five percent of the thousands of applicants who signed up to take the police entrance exam became police recruits. By expanding the overall pool of quality applicants through a Junior Police Pilot Program, the Honolulu Police Department could more quickly fulfill critical staffing shortages to best serve Oahu's communities.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have requested the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Honolulu Police Department, to establish and operate a Junior Police Pilot Program at Farrington High School;

(2) Inserting language requesting the Honolulu Police Department, in conjunction with the Department of Education, to establish and operate a Junior Police Pilot Program at Department of Education high schools;

(3) Removing the Principal of Farrington High School from the list of certified copy recipients; and

(4) Amending its title in accordance with its amended purpose.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 34, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 34, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair