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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, March 24, 2002

Police pursuing new type of recruit

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

After graduating from Punahou in 1988, Garrick Beppu studied computers in college. He rarely thought about a career in law enforcement.

Police Detective Alan Blumeke, who does background checks on new recruits, emphasizes that the department is like a family.

Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

But recent advertisements by the Honolulu Police Department have lured Beppu, 32, and other nontraditional applicants to seek a job on the force. He is now one of 40 people in HPD's 140th recruit class.

"I knew the job was out there, but I really was not exposed to it," said Beppu, who earned his bachelor's degree in computers at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "I wanted to check it out for myself and hopefully make it a career."

Once advertised as a rough-and-tumble place to work, the HPD has refined its recruiting pitch to attract a wider range of applicants to fill more than 100 vacancies a year.

The gradual shift in advertising philosophy from macho to more meaningful messages of community, camaraderie and moral values started about two years ago in an effort to reach beyond the hard-core types who would join the force even without advertising, police said.

They said the new focus seems to be working, attracting hotel workers, mechanics, college graduates with computer backgrounds and an award-winning pipefitter from the Board of Water Supply.

"The people who we are trying to attract are the individuals who had never thought about us," said Maj. Glen Kajiyama of the Human Resources Division.

"We're trying to attract the people who are attracted to these kinds of values we have: integrity, respect and fairness, values of 'ohana or family. It's hard to attract them if you don't advertise for that. What we're trying to do is tell the community we're much more than a person with a firearm on our hip."

Honolulu police recruits

Pay: $2,599 per month, plus benefits. After 18 months as a Metropolitan Police Recruit, eligible for promotion to the rank of Metropolitan Police Officer I, with a salary of $2,807 per month, plus uniform and weapon allowances, and benefits.

Qualifications: Must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident alien; 20 years or older; have a high school diploma or equivalent and a driver's license; and be legally eligible to carry firearms. Those who pass the written exam will undergo character and background checks, psychological screening, and medical and polygraph exams.

Applications: Applications and information are available at all police stations on O'ahu, Satellite City Halls, the City Department of Human Resources, and on HPD's Web site.

Information from the Honolulu Police Department

In its first serious recruiting push since the Sept. 11 attacks, the department has received more than 1,200 applications since November, compared with the usual 800 to 900 applications during a three- or four-month period.

"I see a wide, diverse group from all different backgrounds," said Training Division Capt. Randal Macadangdang, who interacts with dozens of recruits at HPD's training academy, Ke Kula Maka'i, in Waipahu. "Our job is to bring together everyone to meet the department's objectives and mission."

Advertising is seen as a way to compete with other security and law enforcement agencies looking to hire since the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as to increase the pool of applicants at HPD, which loses about 120 officers a year to retirement, resignation or other causes. As of Jan. 31, 2002, the department had 266 vacancies, for which there are now 205 recruits at various levels of training, said police spokeswoman Jean Motoyama.

In keeping with the community theme, one recent prime-time television commercial shows police as rescuers, teachers and parents, ending with the message: "Be a hero to someone every day." The public service announcements and ads have been featured in theaters, newspapers, radio and television during the last two months, police said. They cost $22,000, nearly covered by a federal grant, police said.

Recruiters have pitched HPD at colleges, military bases, libraries and high schools with hopes of luring recruits from a cross-section of the community. Police have even advertised in a computer publication to attract tech-savvy workers.

Today's ads are far different than when HPD recruitment posters showed images of tough-looking people with the slogan: "It's the toughest, dirtiest, most satisfying job in town."

"People who are attracted to these kind of things — the uniform, the equipment — they'll gravitate to us anyway," Kajiyama said. "We don't have to advertise for them. What we're trying to advertise for is the people who support our values, who would have never thought about joining our organization.

"Most people, when they think of a police officer, they think of an individual who's an enforcer, breaking up fights and everything else. We do that, but we're much more than doing that. We'll go into schools, teach the kids, play with the kids," Kajiyama said.

In hiring people of sound character and values, the hope is to have officers who will represent the department in a positive way and cut down on complaints that have hurt police departments nationwide, said Capt. Dave Kajihiro of the Human Resources Division.

"I think that's the trend throughout the nation, is to try to recruit for values instead of just the (police) knowledge," Kajihiro said. "To become a police recruit, you don't have to know anything about policing. In fact, we would rather have those people who have the values instilled in them, because we can teach them how to be police officers."

While the department is always trying to hire more women, Kajiyama said the changed focus was designed to appeal to everyone. "It was done to attract the whole populace who respect our values."

As of February 2002, the department had 211 women out of 1,973 officers (10.7 percent), said Lt. Robert Tome of the Human Resources Division. In 2001, the figure was 209 female officers out of 1,988 (10.5 percent).

Recruits should understand that much of police work is interacting with the community and solving problems, not the high-speed chases and one-hour homicide cases seen on television, police said.

"The majority of the time is talking to people and getting things solved," Kajihiro said. "If you look at the (HPD) commercials now, it will probably go toward family values, the teaching aspect of police work, instead of rough-and-tumble officers."

Members of HPD's 140th recruit class said they enjoyed the HPD commercials and that the advertising had influenced them.

Beppu said he liked the recent commercial, but especially enjoyed the older commercials that showcased different divisions. The advertising, Beppu said, "reinforced what I heard of the department."

Kevin Arakaki, a 1986 Hawaii Baptist Academy graduate, said the commercials excited him and were an accurate representation.

"It did influence me," said Arakaki, 33, who earned his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Hawai'i. "When you see (the commercials), you see the excitement and challenge. That's who I want to become."