Honolulu Police officers will work full-time at three O‘ahu high schools as part of a Department of Education pilot program that began this week.
The program, a partnership between HIDOE and HPD, places officers at Kaimukī, Kapolei and Wai‘anae high schools to serve as School Resource Officers, or SROs.
HPD’s Interim Police Chief Rade Vanic said Wednesday that these are the first schools on the island to adopt SRO programs, although HPD is drawing from similar programs implemented on Maui, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i Island.
The three schools were selected based on their existing programs to help provide students a pipeline toward careers in law enforcement. For example, Kapolei Principal Wes Shinkawa told Aloha State Daily that his school’s Law and Public Safety Academy offers three years of instruction to prepare students for jobs not just with the police, but with emergency responders or the fire department.
“Since we already had that program, it was a no-brainer, really,” Shinkawa said of Kapolei’s new partnership with HPD.
Wai‘anae and Kaimukī high schools are similarly developing their own police career pathway programs. Vanic added that HIDOE wanted to select schools on both the island’s east and west sides, and schools within urban Honolulu and without.
HIDOE Superintendent Keith Hayashi said the program will last for the remaining duration of the 2025-2026 school year — that is, until summer — whereupon both partner agencies will evaluate the results and consider possible expansions of the program.
Vanic said the hope is for SROs to become friendly mentor figures for students. The officers selected to serve as SROs have histories of volunteering and working with children and students through programs such as D.A.R.E.
“Officers are there to mentor students, not replace school discipline,” Vanic said. He explained that SROs will be present on campuses and can intervene if necessary if students act out, but reassured that schools will not use officers to handle things like dress code violations.
On the other hand, Vanic confirmed that all SROs are authorized to carry out arrests if necessary, although as a last resort.
Kapolei SRO Jason Kawano‘ole said he and other officers will be on campus between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on school days. He said they may hold lessons for students on subjects like conflict resolution, or participate in extracurricular activities — he said he has already been called upon to judge a school cooking contest.
Kawano‘ole also said his presence alone has already defused a fight between students on campus.
Vanic said HPD is paying the wages of the SROs at union rates, about $96,000 per year. With nine SROs selected — three per school — that puts the total cost of the program at about $864,000.
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