The Honolulu Police Department will receive more than $5 million in federal stimulus money to hire 21 additional police officers.

The amount is far short of the funding for 150 officers that the department had sought, but Police Chief Boisse Correa said the grant will help HPD deal with its fiscal constraints.

The money will pay the salaries and benefits of 21 officers for three years with a promise from the city that it will pay for a fourth year.

"This comes at a very critical time for the Honolulu Police Department," Correa said yester- day. "We have 50 vacancies at this time, we have about 275 officers ready to retire and we're facing an economic shortfall so we've had to cut back on our recruiting. And we're meeting a lot of other demands and challenges. So this comes a long way."

By the end of this year, HPD expects 100 to 150 vacancies, the chief said. But because of fiscal restraints, HPD only has plans for one recruit class of about 50, which Correa hopes to have under way by the end of the year.

"These funds come at a critical time for the Honolulu Police Department," said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, who made the announcement in a press release yesterday morning, referring to the citywide hiring freeze.

Last month, HPD announced that its graduating class of 17 cadets could be its last for a while because of spending restrictions imposed by the Hannemann administration. Earlier this month, the Police Department told City Council members that it had enough money to start up one recruit class of between 50 and 60 officers, adding that it also hoped to obtain federal economic stimulus money.

The city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, however, is still reviewing HPD's request for the recruit class. City Budget Director Rix Maurer III wrote a letter to the council on July 9 saying that the Police Commission wanted to review the issue before his department made a decision.

Police Commission Chairwoman Christine Camp said the panel had not been told about the need for a recruit class and wants to hear from HPD about the situation.

"We felt we were bypassed," Camp said.

The money granted to the Honolulu Police Department is part of $1 billion in stimulus money given to 1,046 law enforcement agencies for about 5,500 jobs.