COURTESY OF HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
The Hawaii County Police Department recently created a police cadet program for qualified recruits under the age of 21. Cadet Nikolas Geraci, 17, right, watches as Sgt. Christopher Gali demonstrates the use of a laser speed detector. CLICK FOR LARGE
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Recruited to Serve
Big Island police open a cadet training program for students in college
HILO » Since he was in elementary school, Nikolas Geraci, 17, of Hilo, has wanted to be a policeman. The earliest he could do that would be age 21, since that is the earliest the law allows him to carry a gun.
But Geraci will get a head start on his career goal this summer, joining the newly formed Police Cadet program of the Hawaii County Police Department.
The application period for the program closes Feb. 16. The first class starts July 2.
Maj. Jay Enanoria explained that Chief Lawrence Mahuna started the program because he wanted to recruit people like Geraci who might be lost to police work if they had to wait three years after getting out of high school.
Geraci's cadet training will introduce him to a wide variety of police activities, eventually including practice with firearms. He just won't be able to wear the gun or take it home.
And he'll be paid $16.20 per hour.
Geraci was recruited early for the program through Hilo High School, where his father is a counselor and his mother is a teacher.
After an orientation, he focused on vice. He likes the idea of protecting the community from drugs.
Pay wasn't the incentive. "I would be very happy with any pay to be in the program. At first I was told it would be minimum wage," Geraci said.
COURTESY OF HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Hawaii County Police cadet Nikolas Geraci receives instruction in fingerprint techniques. CLICK FOR LARGE
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Cadets will go through the same screening as a regular recruit, Enanoria said: polygraph test, background check, civil service exam. The department is looking for 15 participants.
They will provide only a partial solution to the department's vacancy picture. With authorized sworn positions at 430, vacancies have varied from 15 to 51 in the last five years, Enanoria said.
The first year, cadets will work only three hours per week, with the idea that they will also be enrolled in college. In the second year they'll go up to 16 hours per week. In an optional third year, they'll get training in firearms and other "use of force" techniques such as handcuffing, Enanoria said.
Or they may go from the second year into a regular recruit class.
Cadet programs are not unusual across the nation, but their designs vary.
Maui has had a cadet program since the beginning of the decade, said Maui Lt. Tivoli Faaumu. Four cadets are currently enrolled.
Paid $10 per hour and working up to 19 hours per week, Maui cadets get experience in various aspects of department procedures, but not training in law enforcement, Faaumu said. They also must be in college.
Both the Maui and Big Island programs offer some forgiveness. A Maui cadet who admitted to using marijuana in the past was given counseling, Faaumu said.
If a Big Island cadet performs poorly academically, he or she will be put on probation, not kicked out, Enanoria said.
The view is toward the future. "We get to shape their character," Enanoria said.