City needs to support its underpaid officers

Many of Honolulu's best police officers are being lured away to states like Washington and Oregon because the Honolulu Police Department will not offer them competitive salaries.

While officers in places like King County, WA and Portland, OR begin with about the same starting pay as HPD officers, most are being paid around $50 thousand after five years of service. HPD officers may receive a little over $34 thousand after fie years, an increase of only slight more than $1,300.

Police officers serve a very important function in Hawai`i. The safety of our city depends on having quality law enforcement. Not only are we losing many of our best officers to other police departments, we cannot attract the best candidates with such low pay and benefits.

The city cites its $130 million budget shortfall as the cause for HPD's resistance to awarding raises in salary.

HPD is one of the city's most essential resources. The city must preserve the safety of its residents, and hold it as a priority above other concerns.