The Honolulu Police Department will send more than half of its recruits who graduated Friday to the Westside in November to address violent crime in Oʻahu’s most understaffed police district. 

The unusual move is being welcomed by some residents who have been asking for an increased police presence in their neighborhoods for years. But other community members are concerned that the influx of inexperienced officers could result in police turning to physical force more often than necessary.

While Interim Chief Rade Vanic has said one of his goals is improving response times in the 128-square-mile district that stretches from ʻEwa to Kaʻena Point, he refused to provide information to the police commission on how long it currently takes officers to respond to calls. The department has also not fulfilled records requests from Civil Beat for response time data.

Honolulu City Council member Andria Tupola, who represents West Oʻahu and has pushed for more officers in her district, said she also wants to see more police beats added and a new district formed in Waiʻanae. 

Tupola’s district is the fastest-growing on Oʻahu, but District 8 remains the most understaffed with 63 uniformed vacancies as of July. Department-wide vacancies reached 465 this month, up from 457 in April. 

The Westside has been a focal point of concern since a series of shootings last August caused city officials to ramp up law enforcement resources in the area. Another shooting in late May in Mākaha that left a 19-year-old dead and four people injured, as well as five shootings over the July 4 weekend, have continued to rattle the community. 

Tupola said she’s glad to see the additional officers coming in, but she also wants to see focus remain on recruitment and retention as well as other crime-reduction efforts like investing in youth programs. 

“These are all part and parcel of us trying to work all around the edges to decrease crime on the Westside,” she said, “as opposed to just waiting for a shooting and trying to figure out what to do after that.”

Request For Officers ‘Loud And Clear’

The 12 new officers who will be sent to the Westside graduated Friday, along with eight other recruits. 

They will start in District 8 after completing field training as well as a period known as “fourth watch,” where the recent graduates serve in Waikīkī and Chinatown under the supervision of senior officers. 

When they start on the Westside, they’ll have a variety of assignments, including patrol and community policing, said HPD Assistant Chief Brian Lynch. 

It’s rare for 12 new officers to be assigned to the same district all at once, Lynch said, but the decision was made in response to community concerns about crime on the Westside. 

“The West Oʻahu communities had asked for more people and basically we’re listening,” he said. “It’s been loud and clear.” 

Tupola has been advocating for the creation of a District 9 in Waiʻanae to keep pace with West Oʻahu’s population growth. Her district grew by 20% between 2010 and 2020. The second-fastest growing area during that time period was the neighboring district, which includes portions of ʻEwa Beach and Waipahu. Its population grew by 10%. 

She believes the new officers will help respond to calls and provide backup to the officers already working in the district. 

But some residents are concerned that adding so many inexperienced officers at once could lead to conflicts between community members and police.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Philip Ganaban, chair of the Waiʻanae Coast Neighborhood Board. “How are they under pressure? What’s their experience?” 

He said he would rather see some of the new recruits go to other parts of the island first and have HPD send more experienced officers to District 8.

Kimie Korenaga, a former social worker in Waiʻanae, said she’s also concerned about the officers’ lack of experience, but she’s hopeful they will bring a positive mindset and want to engage with the community. She wants the department to share more information with the public about what the officers will be focusing on. 

“I think the community has to push for transparency if they’re not going to openly provide it so we know what to expect,” she said. “And so we can support them, because at the end of the day, we want good relationships with our first responders.” 

Lynch disputed the notion that new officers may use more force and draw more complaints from the community. 

“That’s not necessarily true,” he said. “Officers have got to start somewhere, whether it’s there or somewhere else on the island.” 

Improving Response Times

The Honolulu Police Department does not include response times in the data it posts online.

Civil Beat filed a public records request for average response times broken down by police beat in September. The department has yet to deny or fulfill that request. A department spokesperson said police would provide a response to a recent request for data on district-level response times by July 31. 

Vanic, who has been serving as interim chief since Joe Logan stepped down this month, told police commissioners at the Honolulu Police Commission’s July 16 meeting that he did not want to give district-specific response times, “because we don’t want to let the bad guys know how long it takes us to get there.”

Vanic told commissioners he would provide general information on how long it takes police to respond to emergency and non-emergency calls islandwide at the commission’s next meeting. 

But Lynch said the initiative isn’t only about response times, it’s also about having more officers available to focus on proactive policing strategies, rather than just responding to calls.

In addition to the 12 new officers, three school resource officers will begin at Waiʻanae High School in October, Lynch said. All three are retired officers who attended a National Association of School Resource Officers training in Arizona this year. 

Jonathan Frye, the state police union’s Honolulu chapter chair, said in a statement that he is glad to see Vanic responding to community concerns about safety on the Westside. But given the increasing department-wide vacancies, he wants to know how sending 12 new recruits to one area will impact other districts. 

“Each month our vacancies grow larger and larger and we lose more and more veteran officers,” the statement said. “So, we would want to understand the actions and steps the Department planned to address any loss of resources for other neighborhoods.”

Recruitment and retention is also a priority for Tupola, who spearheaded the creation of a City Council task force aimed at addressing those issues. The group will hold its first meeting on Aug. 12 and will report back to the council in November. 

But Korenaga said more important than adding officers is ensuring those officers are properly trained and focused on fostering positive relationships with their community.

“It’s a quality thing,” she said, “not a quantity thing.”