A $43,000 Junket To Recruit Cops
The San Jose Police Department聽sent 11 officers to Oahu in an attempt to find new recruits. The trip was not successful.
In May, 11 police officers from San Jose came to Oahu on an 11-day trip to find new recruits to take back with them to the mainland.
The total cost for the trip was about $43,000, according to the news site . But the junket didn鈥檛 net many recruits.
Here鈥檚 how San Jose Inside :
SJPD had interviews scheduled with 89 people: three were disqualified ahead of time, seven withdrew and 29 鈥渨ashed out,鈥 failing to show up for their interviews. The remaining applicants completed at least one part of the hiring process.
But as of this week鈥攖he same week to sidestep labor restrictions to backfill police patrol assignments鈥攖he trip to Hawaii has resulted in just one recruit going through the background check process for October鈥檚 academy.
Five others have tentatively signed on for next year鈥檚 three academies, but they too must pass a rigorous background check that results in less than 1 percent of applicants making the cut.
While the trip wasn鈥檛 successful it serves as a reminder of the Honolulu Police Department鈥檚 to recruit and retain officers.
For many years, HPD watched as numerous officers left the islands for better job prospects on the mainland.
An August 2007 even found that HPD had lost 113 officers to other law enforcement agencies in less than 10 years.
That figure today would account for nearly five percent of the entire force.
