HONOLULU (KHON2) — A $25,000 bonus for new Honolulu Police Department recruits is an unprecedented incentive for the department, the goal was to attract more people into the force, and according to the department, it is working.
Honolulu Police Captain Parker Bode said their monthly number of applicants has increased ever since the announcement about the bonuses was made during Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s State of the City address.
Bode said, “We’ve noticed an increase in applications, pre-announcement, incentive announcement, it was 35 applications per week post announcement now we’re seeing 54 applications per week.”
The applicant then schedules a written test within 30 days of submitting. This officially begins the process, which will challenge the applicant’s physical and mental capacity as well as background.
Bode said, “A psych interview and psych exam, there are a lot of steps and it really depends if they successfully pass those steps.”
The application pool will significantly decrease after the tests, there are four police academy classes a year, each of them fitting 25 recruits. A new class of recruits just began this week, the first class to be eligible for the $25,000 incentive.