HPD overtime
pay now on pace
with budget

Commanders must
submit overtime reports
weekly now, not
monthly

By Gordon Y.K Pang
Star-Bulletin

The Honolulu Police Department has been able to rein in police overtime costs in the first three months of the fiscal year, Maj. Gordon Young said.

HPD has spent about $2 million in overtime so far this year, on pace with its $8.5 million allocation.

That is compared to the roughly $4 million of a $10 million allotment it spent after the first quarter a year ago.

A total of $14 million had to be spent on police overtime last year, leading to disgruntlement among officers when this year's budget was slashed.

Young, who is in charge of the Finance Division, said police commanders were told to allow overtime if absolutely necessary but to juggle personnel and budgets when possible.

The key change in trying to control budgets has been requiring commanders to submit overtime reports weekly, Young said. Previously, such submittals were made once a month.

Young said he also expects the situation to ease because commanders now are being told they can use unexpended funds from other categories for overtime.

At a City Council Public Safety Committee meeting yesterday, Human Resources Division Maj. Glen Kajiyama said HPD has had 49 resignations from its 2,100-member force so far this year.

The number does not factor in any potential departures caused by recent recruitment trips to Honolulu by Pacific Northwest law enforcement agencies.

The average number of resignations annually over the last eight years has been about 67.

Kajiyama estimated that between 50 to 125 officers will leave seeking higher pay as a result of the recruitment trips. A "worst-case scenario" would involve 200 officers.

"These are purely estimates," Kajiyama said. The real impact won't be known until selections are made and officers actually decide to leave.

The Seattle-based King County Sheriff's Office, the largest of the organizations courting Honolulu's officers, is not expected to make final selections until January.

Rick Wheeler, chairman of the Oahu chapter of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, said he expects "anywhere from 150 to 200" officers will depart for the Northwest.

King County recently tested about 270 Hawaii officers.

Wheeler noted that another 200 officers are eligible for retirement.

City Human Resources Director Sandra Ebesu said those eyeing mainland moves need to remember that initial HPD salaries are only $2,000 a year less than King County's.

And while King County officers get no benefits when they retire, Honolulu police do, she said.

Wheeler said that's little comfort to officers forced to seek out special-duty assignments to make financial ends meet.

Several Council members suggested allowing the city to pay Honolulu officers more than other counties. Legislation now requires that collective-bargaining contracts for all islands be the same.