HONOLULU -- There are 15 new police officers in Honolulu. They are members of the 165th recruit class that graduated Wednesday night. The most noticeable difference about this class is it's size. At 15 it's one of the smaller recruit classes. It also has no one who previously served in the military and there is only one woman in the recruit class.

This is now the second recruit class to graduate following a hiring freeze last year due to budget constraints. Some of the recruits are being paid with what's left of a $5 million federal grant awarded to the department last year.

Folks might think they're seeing double with twin brothers Darren and Dorian Soto, 31, donning the dark blues. Dorian Soto graduated with the 163rd class.

"My brother and I always wanted to join, become police officers and he just so happened to become one before I did. When he went in, I felt a lot of pressure to graduate," said Darren Soto.

The brothers will now be working together in the Waikiki district. It's the second time around for Melvin Partido, Jr who's rejoining the force after working for the El Paso, Texas police department for four years.

"We have two kids, my oldest one is 2 years old, my youngest one is 8 months, so we have grandmas and grandpas, aunties and uncles all in Hawaii, so we figured it's time to come back," said Partido.

Now HPD has a Swede on the force. Christian Sahlen has been living in the United States for 12 years, in Hawaii for half of that.

"This is one of the best communities to live in, one of the safest communities to live in and I want to do my part to be one of the safest places to live in," said Sahlen.

There are a little over a 100 vacancies for uniformed officers, but HPD considers that good compared to six years ago when it was double that. Recruitment is ongoing, with 27 soon-to-be officers making up the 166th recruit class that graduates in November.

HPD currently has 2,143 uniformed officers on the force.