HPD interim chief’s priorities include more officers for Waianae area
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Rade Vanic’s first day on the job as interim chief for the Honolulu Police Department included his first meeting with the Honolulu Police Commission to outline his priorities.
One of the big ones -- adding more officers to a part of Oahu that has been demanding them.
“You gotta strategically place existing resources. That’s a tough thing to do,” commission Chair Ken Silva told Vanic during Wednesday’s meeting.
That’s the challenge facing Vanic as he takes over the reins of a department that had 461 vacancies as of last motnh.
After a string of high-profile shootings and other crimes in the Waianae area last summer, HPD teamed up with state law enforcement and the FBI to increase patrols there.
“That was great. But it required us to work with other agencies, use outside resources that we didn’t have control over. And while that was great, it’s not sustainable,” Vanic told the commission.
Vanic said he will permanently add 12 officers to District 8, stretching from Ewa to Makaha, which currently has 145 officers.
Commissioners asked where the additional patrol officers will come from, “Because you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, right? Because it’s not like I have these extra guys sitting down in the office and, like, okay, let’s put them out there,” Silva said.
Vanic told HNN that the 12 positions will be filled by the latest graduates from the police academy.
“These are our officers. They’re officers coming out of Fourth Watch and they’ll be new officers filling vacancies in D8,” he said.
Fourth Watch is made up of new officers who have completed training, but are still patrolling with a group of their peers.
HPD also said training began this week for 36 new recruits -- the largest recruit class since 2021.
“When they’re assigned a permanent position, they fill vacancies within the districts, and so those officers -- or officers who transfer -- will be going out to permanent beats, which well be creating two new beats in the District 8 area,” Vanic said.
Vanic added that the new officers will start to be added in November.
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