HONOLULU(KHON2) -- The Honolulu Police Department graduated its latest class of recruits Friday at Moanalua High School. The class marking the first members of the force to receive the new signing bonus. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Congratulations to the newest members of the Honolulu Police Department, the 213th recruit class. "I'm extremely proud of the 213th recruit class," Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan said. "Sixteen, strong individuals that come from all walks of life that are gonna enter our police department and be brand new officers." "I love coming to these ceremonies. This is a great class. You got some legacy kids in here. Three of the graduates, their parents, their fathers were in HPD," Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said. "It's just a proud moment for the families and themselves. They made a courageous decision. I'm here as Mayor, on behalf of a grateful public, to acknowledge that decision, and thank them for it." The 16 graduates are the first to receive the city's new recruitment bonuses. When they applied the bonuses hadn't even been announced yet. "At three-and-a-half months, when they pass the their academics portion of the police academy, they were given $2500 bonus. So this next iteration, coming up as they graduate tonight, they'll receive a $5000." Local pet toys for local pets at Hawaii Holiday Craft & Gift Fair They'll receive another $7500 after the probationary period, and after four years in the force, Logan said they'll get another $10,000 for a total of $25,000. According to HPD, the number of applicants they receive jumped about 20% since the roll out of the bonus, which is meant to help recruitment. "How does this help the vacancies, the shortage in the police department?" KHON asked. "So we're still at about 420 vacancies," Logan responded. "It goes up-and-down depending on classes that come in. So sixteen young individuals coming in this class. In November, we'll be pushing probably around 30, 31 individuals to the watches so that will drop the vacancies down about 30 and so we'll be hovering around 400." Logan said the bonus is really an incentive and not the main reason people join the department. Blangiardi said he wants to do everything he can to support HPD. "I am actually very interested in developing something to retain our senior officers as well," he explained. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Blangiardi said he's creating an incentive for senior officers to delay retiring and stay in the force longer, it's something he hopes to implement in his next four years in office.