Posted on: Saturday, November 10, 2001

HPD may face lawsuit over short staffing

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

The union that represents more than 1,900 O'ahu police officers is threatening to sue the city and the Honolulu Police Department over what it says is a staffing shortage that is jeopardizing officer safety, according to a union member.

HPD yesterday acknowledged occasional shortages on patrol beats, but police officials said they are taking steps to fill them and assured officers that their safety would not be jeopardized.

The O'ahu chapter of the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers recently approved the filing of a lawsuit against the city and the HPD over the issue, according to a letter to the union's members.

The lawsuit will be presented Wednesday to the state board for final approval, according to the letter issued Thursday and signed by Alexander Garcia, chairman of the O'ahu chapter's board of directors.

When reached by The Advertiser yesterday, Garcia said the letter was accurate, but he declined comment until Wednesday.

The letter, which was scheduled to be sent to all SHOPO members on O'ahu, suggested that the island's 151 patrol beats are not fully staffed.

Police Chief Lee Donohue yesterday issued his response through his spokeswoman, Michelle Yu, and said he continues to work with SHOPO to address the officers' concerns.

"Ideally, we would like to have all of the beats fully staffed 24 hours a day. However, officers sometimes have to appear in court, attend training or they get sick or they go on vacation," Donohue said. "So we adjust accordingly. The watches are typically staffed at 80 to 100 percent. A watch may go over 100 percent if the commander anticipates a heavier-than-usual workload. A watch could fall below (80 to 100 percent) because of unforeseen circumstances, such as an illness."

Donohue said at no point have the occasional shortages jeopardized the safety of the officers or the public.

The department has an authorized strength of 1,260 officers, and in June the department had 1,142 officers assigned to field operations, Yu said. In times of need, officers from neighboring districts can be called to depleted districts, Yu said.

"We acknowledge (that) recruiting and retaining officers has been a challenge for us," Yu said. "However, staffing the beats is a priority and we've made great strides in reducing the number of vacancies."

HPD had 2,459 employees last year, including 1,979 police officers, amounting to 2.3 officers per 1,000 people on O'ahu, according to the department's annual report.

SHOPO represents police officers with ranks of lieutenant and below.