Offering better pay, working conditions and flexible scheduling could help retain veterans, but challenges dealing with mental illness and providing affordable housing place roadblocks on recruiting new officers.

Meanwhile, the officers involved in the cases have faced mixed consequences.

The Honolulu Police Department has about 350 officer vacancies as the department prepares to onboard a new chief.

The City Council passed a resolution requesting that HPD inform residents after doing warrantless searches when they’re away.

It doesn’t appear Hawaii will create an independent agency to investigate police shootings, a step states like Washington have already taken.

The statewide police union plays an outsized role in everything from police shootings to investigating officer misconduct. But the public is kept in the dark about important issues being negotiated in the contract.

Daniel Sellers was indicted along with the former HPD police chief and his prosecutor wife in 2017. After taking a plea deal, he was fired by the department.

More than 500 complaints were made against HPD employees last year, leading to recommendations for dozens of firings and suspensions.

Hawaii has one of the highest rates of fired officers getting their jobs back through arbitration but other communities are facing the same issue.