Kaua‘i police are working to sweeten the deal for potential candidates by offering hiring bonuses and additional compensation for those who would be moving here from off-island. The proposed policy, which has yet to be approved by the department of
Kaua‘i police are working to sweeten the deal for potential candidates by offering hiring bonuses and additional compensation for those who would be moving here from off-island.
The proposed policy, which has yet to be approved by the department of personnel services, would offer recruits an incentive of up to $1,000 and an additional sum of up to $2,500 if they come from Neighbor Islands or the Mainland. The latter of the two incentives would only be offered to applicants who haven’t lived on Kaua‘i for at least one year’s time.
According to this month’s report submitted to police commissioners, 122 of 148 authorized sworn positions are filled, leaving 26 vacancies within the department. The vacant sworn positions are made up of two police lieutenants, two police detectives, two police sergeants and 20 police officer positions.
Of those 20, nine are slated for patrol services operations, six are for vice, three are for platoon assignments and the final two are split between the chief’s office and the traffic safety unit.
The number of sworn vacancies was up by one position from the month prior, because of a police officer retiring, the report states.
Deputy Chief Mark Begley, who as a sergeant headed police recruitment, said staffing issues aren’t unique to Kaua‘i’s police force, noting that law enforcement nationwide is competing for candidates.
Sgt. Ezra Kanoho is temporarily assigned to training and handling recruitment, Begley said.
But on the side of the potential to beef up the police department is a higher level of negotiated salaries with a promised 6 percent annual salary increase through 2010.
Begley said as of July 1, the starting salary for police officers — which bears the highest number of open positions — will be the highest ever at $24.60 an hour.
Open positions have been a long-standing issue for the KPD. Rep. James Tokioka, D-Kaua‘i, said in a previous interview openings have been typical for the department for a decade.
“Over the past 10 years, the number of openings hasn’t been less than 20,” he has said.
The department has also been working to up its recruitment of females, Begley said.
Most advertisements have a female officer in them, as do the department’s television commercials.
Women are also recruited at job fairs, the last of which was three months ago.
“We have a positive outlook,” Begley said. “We’ve got a good group of people going through the final screening process so we hope to get them in the academy.”
Though Begley couldn’t comment on how many have been screened or how many would get the green light for the next class, he said the last class graduated nine recruits.
