2023-01-20 Police Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Police Commission Regular Session Minutes January 20, 2023 Page 6 Commissioner Robinson stated that he tries to encourage people to join the recruit classes, but he always hears the same thing about them having to go to Hilo to attend class. He asked if it was possible that they'll ever conduct a class in West Hawaii. He mentioned there's a community college with a nice campus right up the road close by. He stated, if you have a class in Kona, you might get more candidates from here. AC Burian stated that is something to consider, they've never done anything like that. He just saw in the meeting minutes during the chief selection process, one of the candidates brought it up and it's something to consider. Commissioner Robinson added the university campus is a good resource and they have nice facilities. AC Burian stated it's something they need to look at a little closer or some mechanism to make it easier for people in West Hawaii to make it over. For example, he got promoted to sergeant in Kona, being from Hilo, he had the barracks he could stay at during the week and that made it a lot easier for him, not necessarily for his family, but it's for a limited period of time. Commissioner Quartararo asked if they keep statistics on the average age of the applicants, and experience of the applicants, in the context of transfers from other jurisdictions outside of the State of Hawaii. AC Burian stated if he was not mistaken, he had asked something along those lines previously. They don't normally track those statistics in and of themselves, but when that question was asked, they ran the numbers as far as the age coming into the class. The average age was about 27 and the average age coming out of class was approximately a year older. It was just an average age. Commissioner Bertsch stated this question was asked about four months ago and the commission was provided with documentation. Commissioner Quartararo asked about other agencies "raiding" or recruiting Hawaii Police Department officers. AC Burian stated in the past, other departments have done pretty aggressive recruiting. This was earlier in the '90s, particularly in Washington State, Oregon, and sometimes California. They lost a number of officers to them. He doesn't see as many recruiting efforts currently. He explained that HPD doesn't do specific recruiting where they send people up there and he doesn't see other departments doing that either. It's easy enough right now to find information online, such as average salaries and things like that. Sometimes they're just looking for greener pastures or where they and their family are the most comfortable. He explained that HPD doesn't do aggressive recruiting on the mainland. They have social media and they're always looking for people. They have 450 sworn personnel who are the best recruiters out there. The only reason he joined the police department is because he was asked by his then-girlfriend's sister to take the test. He has never considered it before, but that personal approach worked for him. He compares it to church. You don't have a lot of people just walking through your door at your church unless you get out there and plant the seed. He further stated that the department and County need to advocate and support bringing retirement back down to 25 years from 30 years, this might help with recruiting. He feels the new chief will bring that positive spirit and encouragement. They need to raise the morale of the officers and continually emphasize they're the reason they exist as administrators and make sure they have the tools they need to do their jobs effectively.