News

Severe Shortage of Police Dispatchers in the Honolulu Police Department Threatens Public Safety

The Hawaii Government Employees Association this week called on the Honolulu City Council to expand its recently established taskforce to tackle the Honolulu Police Department’s shortage of uniformed officers to include civilian police communication officers, commonly known as dispatchers.

These vital employees answer urgent emergency calls from the public, but for years the union has sounded the alarm about the growing shortage in their ranks and HPD’s failure to address recruitment and retainment. The department faces 188 vacancies in civilian positions, according to reports, two-thirds of which are dispatchers. With some 35% of dispatcher positions vacant, this creates the potential for a public safety hazard.

“For our members in these roles, it has meant emotional and physical strain: working longer hours, foregoing lunch breaks — even bathroom breaks — and being coerced by managers if they are unable to work overtime,” HGEA Executive Director Randy Perreira wrote to the city council in a June 5 letter.

The impacts of these shortages are well documented: During ongoing emergencies, when minutes are a matter of life or death, staff shortages often increase call wait times from four minutes to upwards of 20 minutes. Employees are required to hold over four hours at the end of their regular eight-hour shift should their supervisor ask them to stay, usually with no advanced notice. And they are not allowed to refuse overtime, even in the case of childcare, elder care or other personal scheduling conflicts. This has led to a workforce that is physically burned out, emotionally worn down, and fearful of management reprisal.

Twenty-five current police communication officers have reached retirement age, which threatens to compound the vacancy crisis the department faces. With HPD struggling to retain recruits past one year, it’s hard to see how this situation improves. HPD has retained only 13 police communication officers hired since 2020 compared to 21 who have left the workplace.

While every county in the state is experiencing staffing shortages with emergency operators, HGEA has been able to successfully negotiate retention differentials with all counties except for the Honolulu Police Department.

“We urge that the council expand its inquiry into this staffing challenge by including police communications officers and the impact that their staffing level has on employee morale, retention, and service (or lack of) provided to our community,” Perreira said in his letter. “The public deserves a communication unit that is fully staffed and capable of accurately handling critical emergencies without delay.”

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Media Contacts:

Malulani Moreno
Communications Manager
(808) 543-0024
mmoreno@hgea.org

Kristina Lum
Senior Communications Specialist
(808) 543-0063
klum@hgea.org