The impending two-day-a-month furloughs of civilian employees at the Honolulu Police Department may require sworn officers to fill in, new Chief Louis Kealoha said yesterday.

Kealoha called the tight budget situation his biggest challenge in his first wide-ranging interview with media at HPD headquarters. Kealoha, 49, was sworn in on Nov. 25.

"What we're doing right now is preparing ourselves for the impending budget cuts," Kealoha said. "We've done ... exercises to project 5, 10 and even 15 percent budget cuts."

He added: "We're also looking at preparing our department for the impending furlough of our civilian employees" beginning July 1.

"Definitely, when our civilian employees are furloughed, we're going to have to fill that in with, perhaps, some of our uniformed officers," Kealoha said.

HPD is looking at staggering furlough days to ease the strain on operations, he said.

While the four counties had agreed during the summer to a contract with the Hawaii Government Employees Association that would permit up to two furlough days a month, Kealoha's comments were the first time a city agency chief acknowledged that furloughs are a certainty.

Officials with the administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the HGEA yesterday said that at this point, furloughs are still being discussed. "We recognize that each agency has individual needs and may not comport with a general furlough program," city Deputy Budget Director Mark Oto said. "The administration is reviewing specific needs of each of our agencies."

HGEA Deputy Director Nora Nomura said while the union agreed to two furlough days a month for its members next year, specifics have yet to be worked out.

The union has concerns if HPD intends to use sworn officers to do the work of HGEA employees, Nomura said.

"In many instances, they're going to be paying a higher-level employee to do a lower-level work," she said, noting that many positions subject to furlough are clerical. On the other hand, HPD officers might also be doing the work of specialists, such as forensic scientists.

HPD has about 500 unionized civilian employees, about 450 of whom are members of the HGEA, department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said.

Kealoha said he wants to shift resources so that the department is focused on emergency response and criminal investigation services.

"We may have to scale down some of our other services in other divisions," he said. Prevention, educational, intervention and counseling functions "perhaps" may be scaled back as a result, he said.

Kealoha garnered the support of a good number of SHOPO members as a candidate for chief. But one of HPD officers' main complaints with former chief Boisse Correa may not be resolved anytime soon.

The new chief said he will not be bringing back anytime soon the three-day, 12-hour officer work weeks HPD officers once had. "I reviewed the 3/12 when I first came in, and at this point we're going to stay with the 5/9 until further notice," Kealoha said.

"It's more efficient and effective in terms of officer safety (and) in terms of the quality of service we're able to give to the public."

Kealoha said policies are being reviewed in light of three instances in recent weeks in which HPD officers shot unarmed suspects as they tried to flee, policies are being reviewed.

"Our officers are highly trained, and I am very confident in their abilities," Kealoha said. "Still, three incidences in a month is a cause for concern, and I will be asking my staff to look into these incidences to see where we can improve or where changes need to be made in terms of our training or our policies."