The Honolulu Police Department’s difficulties in hiring officers causes it to send tens of millions of dollars budgeted for salaries back to the city’s general fund every year.

The police department left about $45 million of its $345 million budget unspent for the fiscal year that ended last June. That’s up from $18 million unspent in 2021, when the budget was $283 million. 

“To see so much money sitting on the table when we all want HPD to succeed, it’s incredibly frustrating,” said City Council Budget Chair Tyler Dos Santos-Tam. 

Dos Santos-Tam, City Council member Andria Tupola and the state police union say the city should spend some of that money on overtime to fill gaps in patrols and on bonuses so more people join the force and more officers delay retirement.

Tupola introduced a resolution last week to establish a City Council task force aimed at reducing the department’s vacancies and improving retention. The task force also would evaluate the department’s budget and ensure that funding is spent on hiring and retention initiatives. 

The department has struggled for years to hire enough new officers to replace those who retire. As of April 30 there were 645 vacancies, including 457 uniformed vacancies, out of 2,799 authorized positions.

Dustin DeRollo, spokesman for the police union, said the department should use some of the unspent money to fund overtime and bonuses for recruitment and retention.

When so much money is returned unspent, he said, “You’ve got to ask yourself, are we safe now? There’s nothing else we could have done? No other program that’s needed in the community that we could have funded for two years with some of this money? We find that hard to believe.”

Honolulu police acting Capt. High Shin Lin said in a statement that many of the unspent funds were allocated for “current expenses,” which include costs such as gasoline, equipment and allowances. Last year’s unspent funds included nearly $15 million that had been allocated to the department’s patrol division, but because they had been earmarked for current expenses, they couldn’t be used for other purposes, such as overtime, he wrote.

Unspent Money Grows With Vacancies

The number of budgeted positions has remained relatively constant, around 2,800, in the past several years. But the number of unfilled positions — and the money set aside to pay those salaries — has grown.

In 2021, the department had 459 vacancies, including 324 sworn officers, out of 2,802 authorized positions. That’s when the police union first raised the issue.

“We should never experience another year when over $18 million goes unspent and returned to the general fund while neighborhood police patrol beats go unfilled throughout the year,” union president Robert Cavaco wrote in a letter to the City Council budget committee in 2022. 

The number of vacancies has grown by close to 200 since 2021.

Though most city departments have money left over at the end of each budget year, Dos Santos-Tam said the amount unspent by the police department is particularly concerning given its importance and complaints from constituents about response times. 

He said he doesn’t want to cut the budget because he wants the department to have what it needs to protect the public. 

Its budget has grown from $282 million in 2021 to $366 million this year.

“Over the past many years, their budget has increased significantly because all of us council members want to make sure that HPD is fully resourced in order to do their job,” Dos Santos-Tam said. 

Honolulu Police Commission Chair Kenneth Silva said the commission recently asked for quarterly reports from the police department explaining how much has gone unspent and why. 

“Is it because there’s a holdup someplace in the city system that needs to be streamlined or something else?” he asked. “But there should be a rational explanation for any funds that are not spent.” 

Can Money Be Used For Overtime, Bonuses? 

DeRollo said the unspent money should be spent on overtime for officers in understaffed districts. 

Police staffing was brought to the forefront in August after a surge in violent crime in District 8 on the Westside. That area has historically had more vacancies than any other police district. Many residents have complained about slow response times and a lack of police. 

Staffing levels have improved since Maj. Gail Beckley, who oversees the district, began spending more on overtime in September, according to the police union. 

But dispatchers also say they are stretched thin, which can affect response times across the island as they juggle calls. 

Dos Santos-Tam said the department could direct more resources to help alleviate short-staffed patrols and incentivize the hiring of civilian staff like dispatchers.

Instead, DeRollo said, the message from the department’s administration to district commanders is to limit overtime. 

Last year, the department spent about $24 million on non-holiday overtime pay, according to a City Council report. 

A section of this year’s proposed budget for the police department says the department will aim to reduce the use of overtime where possible.  

DeRollo said that while spending more on overtime isn’t a long-term solution for understaffing, it would get more officers on the road while the department works to fill the hundreds of vacancies. 

Tupola, who represents West Oʻahu, said the unspent money should be used on equipment and training to help officers do their jobs.

An internal survey conducted by Chief Joe Logan and released in August contained complaints from dozens of officers about issues such as outdated equipment, insufficient training and lack of supplies.  Tupola said some officers cited those concerns as reasons for leaving the department. 

The city already has a sign-on bonus for new recruits, which Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced last year. But an equal amount of focus needs to be placed on retention, Tupola said. 

“There is no recruitment without retention,” she said. “It’s like pouring water in a bucket with holes.’”