EARLIER this week, at Honolulu Hale, I fought off a strong compulsion to misbehave. I was waiting to cast an absentee ballot in the General Election. But it was torture to keep quiet and just stand there, as others also queued up for the voting booths at City Hall. Nothing can stop cops
from moving awayI struggled with an uncontrollable urge to run around the courtyard like a madwoman, screaming out names of candidates to support and instructions on which amendments to rebuff. But I didn't, and not because I'm polite.
For the past several months, we've been bombarded with newspaper ads, TV commercials and junk mail. We've watched the televised debates, read the propaganda and considered the promises.
Some of us have felt so strongly about particular issues or candidates that we have joined campaigns for the first or umpteenth time.
Now there is nothing more to say or do. We must accept our fate.
The same is true about this potential problem of losing many Honolulu Police Department officers to recruiters from Oregon and Washington state. Since writing an Oct. 9 column, "Men and women in blue need more green," I've received correspondence and phone calls from current and former HPD officers, like this e-mail note from a cop who wishes to remain anonymous:
"It is very discouraging to see officers on the mainland making about 40-50 percent more than us. Most officers in Hawaii have to work special duty and overtime to afford a small two-bedroom apartment.
"The Washington police departments issue state-of-the-art equipment. Each officer there has a laptop computer, shotgun, pager, cellular telephone, shoes and uniforms. At HPD, every officer must pay for all or part of the costs of these things.
"It seems that Washington departments value their police officers more and are willing to pay for quality. Meanwhile, it is very discouraging to hear Mayor Harris say there is no money to pay HPD officers more.
"If it were really important to the city and state, both the mayor and governor would have made police compensation a priority long ago. Why was it only after the recent recruitment efforts from the Pacific Northwest did the mayor and governor even think about giving us a good pay raise? My vote will go to Linda Lingle.
"Truthfully, even if HPD officers got a pay raise of, say, 50 percent, I would still move. The Washington departments will always be ahead of Hawaii's, and the cost of living will always be cheaper.
"Being a police officer is not easy. If it was, it wouldn't be such a problem to fill 200 vacancies. Thanks for the encouragement to stay, Diane, but the pros outweigh the cons. See you in Seattle..."
DID you get the part that said even if HPD officers were gifted with a whopping 50 percent salary increase, that many still would leave? That's it. There is nothing more to say or do. We must accept our fate.
So must Mayor Harris, whose response to my previous column was that I had "fallen" for the police union's ruse of an imaginary exodus, so its leaders could secure a raise for its members in these stingy economic times.
How I'd love to be wrong on this one, Mr. Mayor. But if the cream of HPD is truly migrating to the mainland, and there's a drop in the caliber of gun-toting recruits, you'll have a lot of explaining to do come re-election, for you a mere two years away.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.