“Since the beginning of Mayor Dan Kemp’s administration in January 2007, HPD has lost five officers to private overseas security assignments,” Abee said. “Additionally, since the beginning of the war in Iraq, HPD has been hit with 12 officers resigning to accept overseas jobs. We are not the only community facing this issue; it’s a nationwide dilemma.”

Mayor Kemp stated that, “The need to ramp up our recruiting and hiring process for police officers is vital. We must have a full force to adequately provide public safety services to our citizens.”

Kemp added that, in discussions with Police Chief Kermit E. Yeager, plans are being made to re-staff the Street Crimes Unit in the near future. “With the hiring of the new officers in March, once they get through the public-safety academy, we hope to be able to dedicate more personnel to Street Crimes,” Kemp said. “We had to recently make a decision that SCU officers spend more time on patrol because of the vacancies we were faced with. With our hiring process back on pace, the Chief and I feel we will soon have officers assigned to focus on gang intelligence and suppression, patrol backup, and community service programs.”

Abee noted that, because of the current search for a new Police Chief to replace the retiring Chief Yeager, some decisions about staffing and recruiting will require input from the new Chief. “Anytime you are faced with replacing a key position, it is necessary to rely on the expertise of the new person. We feel a new Chief will be on board soon and will want to immediately get involved in these decisions,” Abee said.

Chief Yeager is slated to retire February 29^th. The search for his replacement is underway and the selection panel, which Abee chairs, will announce the final candidates for that role in the next few days.