Council committee advances resolution urging school resource officers at Oahu public high schools

The Committee on Public Safety and Customer Services on Feb. 13 advanced a resolution urging the Honolulu Police Department and the Department of Education to enter an agreement assigning school resource officers to public high schools.

Committee members said the measure is intended as a preventative safety program and noted the resolution’s sponsors have already discussed pilot steps with police and DOE officials. Council member Tupole, who introduced the resolution, said the school resource officer (SRO) program “exists on all the islands except for ours” and described steps to hire contract retirees on short-term, 89‑day contracts so the program would not “take patrol officers off the road.”

Supporters said the SRO model used on other islands focuses on relationship-building and youth training rather than primarily on arrests. Captain Neil Han of the Honolulu Police Department told the committee, “HPD will always be in…