Honolulu Is Slow To Hire New Lifeguards And That Is Putting Swimmers At Risk, Official Says 0 Honolulu’s top lifeguard says personnel processing delays are creating a “crisis point” for ocean safety.

The big winter waves have started rolling in and sea rescues are rising.

But the city’s top ocean safety official says he has been stymied in getting more lifeguards out to the beaches because of bureaucratic gridlock, a situation he has told city officials is reaching a “crisis point.”

In August, according to John Titchen, chief of Honolulu’s ocean safety and lifeguard services division, the department decided to promote four qualified ocean safety officers, all city employees, to the level of lieutenant, which would in turn allow them to bring on four more lower-level ocean safety officers to fill their jobs.

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