Thirteen new deputies graduated yesterday from the state Sheriff's Academy in Pearl City and are ready to join the approximately 300 state sheriffs already on the job.

Graduation ceremonies were held at the Okinawan Community Center for the new deputies, which include 12 men and one woman.

Traditionally, new deputies are first assigned to patrol duty or to work in the cellblocks at the District and Circuit courts, said Ches Dasalla, a deputy sheriff II.

State sheriffs today perform a much-expanded role in law enforcement in Hawai'i compared with a decade ago, said James Propotnick, deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety and head of its law enforcement division.

In addition to providing law enforcement services in state buildings including the courts, airports and Capitol, deputy sheriffs today are involved in serving warrants, traffic enforcement in the airport and Kaka'ako areas and extraditions from other states. They also are members of various task force operations overseen by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Justice and U.S. Marshals Service, Propotnick said.

He said a new deputy sheriff class will be convened as soon as the need to fill 15 or more slots arises, primarily due to the retirement of current deputy sheriffs.

Propotnick said the fixed costs of hiring instructors for deputy sheriff classes "are the same whether we have five candidates or 25 candidates going through the academy."

He said he likes to have a minimum of 15 deputy candidates before scheduling a new academy class.