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HPD reports gains in recruit applications and outlines targeted outreach, SkillBridge and retention initiatives
Summary
The Honolulu Police Department told the council committee it has increased events and refocused recruitment toward "quality over quantity," reporting a more than 21% increase in applications in 2024 and describing expanded outreach including SkillBridge, college partnerships and a childcare survey to improve retention.
The Honolulu Police Department told the Committee on Public Safety and Customer Services on May 1 that it has redesigned its recruitment strategy and seen early returns: applications rose more than 21% in 2024 after the department shifted to targeted outreach and quality‑over‑quantity recruitment.
Major Parker Bodie, assigned to HPD's human resources division, said staff looked at demographic commonalities among successful recruits — family or HPD affiliation, prior military service, varsity athletics or college education — and then tailored outreach. "Once we identified those emphasis areas, we then empowered the recruitment team to brainstorm strategies to target those emphasis areas," Major Bodie said. The department also expanded attendance at recruiting events from about 140 events in 2023 to an expected nearly 200 events in 2025.
HPD described three concrete efforts: an internal informational video series to encourage employees to promote recruitment pathways among family and friends; expansion of the Department of Defense SkillBridge program to bring departing service members into a hands‑on internship and hiring pipeline; and outreach to non‑criminal‑justice majors (psychology, public health, social work) to recruit candidates with trauma‑informed care skills.
Major Bodie told the committee the department has seen higher academy admittances and said it has moved toward recruit classes of about 25–30 cadets, with four classes per year on a typical schedule, allowing maximum annual graduations on the order of roughly 120 recruits under current practice. He said the department is also exploring retention incentives and recently surveyed officers on childcare needs; preliminary results showed 95% of officers indicated childcare is a need.
Committee members asked about vacancies and retention. HPD acknowledged lengthy vacancy challenges: committee discussion referenced more than 400 sworn vacancies and a similar number of civilian vacancies. Bodie said the department has instituted internships, sit‑along programs for dispatchers, and other outreach to address civilian pipelines alongside sworn recruitment.
The presentation was informational; the committee asked HPD to provide the presentation materials and recruitment videos for committee review.
