1/1
Swipe or click to see more
Louis Kealoha, Honolulu’s police chief, now earns $151,632 annually.
Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
The Honolulu Police Department says a 5.5 percent increase for the police chief and his deputies is needed to keep up with salaries of officers, whose salaries have climbed after successful union negotiations.
The request for an increase was taken to the city Salary Commission this month by Assistant Police Chief Mark Nakagawa. The commission makes recommendations to the City Council.
"The department ranks as the 20th largest police force in the United States with all of the attendant issues and complexities of a large police agency," Nakagawa said in a Feb. 4 letter to the commission. Nakagawa heads HPD’s Administrative Bureau, which includes the human resources and finance divisions.
Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his deputies received 5.5 percent raises last year from the City Council.
Nakagawa said that since then, unionized members of the police department received two pay raises of 1.75 percent, and will receive two more 1.75 percent raises, for a total of about 7 percent.
Kealoha now earns $151,632, and a 5.5 percent increase would push his annual salary to $159,972, Nakagawa said.
Kealoha’s two deputies earn $144,624, and a 5.5 percent hike would bring their salaries to $152,578.
As for other salaries, six assistant police chiefs’ pay would rise from $149,364 to $154,367 at the end of 2015 fiscal year, according to Nakagawa’s calculations.