For years, the chiefs of the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) used ohana, the Hawaiian word for family, to describe the department. Family is important in Hawaiian culture and ohana is the reason why officers joined and stayed with the force. 

Police departments all over the United States are experiencing a reduction in applications, requiring increased emphasis on recruitment. The Hawaiian islands and their near‐perfect weather may be inviting, but Honolulu has some recruiting challenges that the rest of the country doesn’t encounter, including the limited population and relative isolation of the Hawaiian Islands, competition for applicants from other law enforcement agencies, and the relatively high expense of living in Hawaii.

Adding urgency to HPD’s recruiting efforts, a significant number of officers are at or nearing retirement age. It takes a long time to get hired too. Processing applicants through testing and background checks takes up to 7 months. Typically, only 3 percent of the applicants are then accepted into the 6‐month training class, and several of those do not complete training.

Several years ago, the department’s leaders decided that a massive recruiting campaign built around their ohana family‐style culture is necessary to bolster recruiting efforts. The branding and recruiting campaign has included a variety of activities including the following. 

Department image and culture was promoted as close knit and service oriented rather than the usual rough and tumble image of police departments. 

• Women’s recruitment seminars were held. 

• Radio and TV ads were purchased. r HPD website is updated daily. 

• Recruiting events are held several times each year. 

• Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are utilized to provide information.

• Physically fit young people were targeted with recruiting efforts at beach volleyball tournaments, college, and even high school athletic events. 

• A police recruiting van was a visible presence at community events.

• People on the mainland with ties to Hawaii, such as prior military service, were targeted.

• Officers who had left the force for departments on the mainland were contacted.

As a result of the recruiting efforts, HPD has escaped shortages of officers in recent years, but it remains to be seen if future staffing challenges can be avoided.

Questions: 

1. How could the Honolulu Police Department have used other internal and external recruitment methods to make recruiting more effective? 

2. How important is branding for law enforcement agencies? In what ways can an effective employment brand benefit recruiting efforts?

3. Design a social media strategy to reach potential applicants for HPD. How will it differ from the social media recruiting strategy of mainland law enforcement agencies? 

4. Research: Take a look at the Honolulu Police Department Career Center at www.honolulupd.org. Investigate their recruiting pages and videos. In what ways does the content support the employment brand? What suggestions can you make to improve their recruiting efforts?