Honolulu Police Department
The Honolulu Police Department, popularly known as the HPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of the City & County of Honolulu under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Honolulu. It is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
Founded in 1932, the Honolulu Police Department serves and protects the entire island of O'ahu, covering over 600 square miles of territory, home to more than 880,000 residents and over 4 million annual visitors attracted by Honolulu's academic and tourism industries. Unlike the other forty-nine states of the Union, Hawai'i does not have a state police agency or individual city agencies. Law enforcement is the jurisdiction of the individual county governments.
Kingdom of Hawai'i
In 1840, the Supreme Court of Kamehameha III established the first constitution for the Kingdom of Hawai'i. The constitution paved the way for the Act to Organize the Executive Departments of the Government signed on April 27, 1846. The law created the office of Marshal of the Kingdom, the highest ranking police officer in the nation. He nominated, instructed, supervised and controlled the Sheriffs of the Kingdom of which there were four, one for each administrative region of Kaua'i, O'ahu, Mau'i and Hawai'i. Each Sheriff administered a corps of constables officially appointed by the four royal governors. Constables wore a distinct police insignia that consisted of a scarlet crown with the initials KIII in honor of Kamehameha III. The insignia was worn on the arm and on a red band on their police hats.
Territory of Hawai'i
In 1893, the Kingdom of Hawai'i was replaced by the Provisional Government of Hawai'i which quickly deposed the Marshal of the Kingdom and dissolved the constabulary. In 1894, the newly proclaimed Republic of Hawai'i formed its own police system.
After a few years under the governance of the Territory of Hawai'i, four county governments were established out of the original administrative regions of the monarchy. In 1905, each county was equipped with a police department led by an appointed Sheriff. Police officers wore an octagon-shaped police badge similar in appearance to those of other police departments of the period. In the 1920s the badge was redesigned with an eagle on top.
Sheriffs of Honolulu
- A. M. Brown, 1905-1906
- Curtis P. Iaukea, 1907-1909
- William P. Jarrett, 1910-1914
- Charles G. Rose, 1915-1923
- David K. Trask, 1924-1926
- David L. Desha, 1927
Establishment
In response to a crime wave in the late 1920s as a result of increased racial tensions between whites and local ethnics, Territorial Governor Lawrence M. Judd appointed a Governor's Advisory Committee on Crime. The committee recommended that a police commission be appointed by the Mayor of Honolulu whose duty it would be to appoint a Chief of Police and to supervise the operating of the police department. The committee also advised that the office of Sheriff should be retained and charged with the duty of serving civil process, of maintaining the Honolulu prison system and to act as coroner. On January 22, 1932, a special session of the territorial legislature passed Act 1 establishing the Honolulu Police Commission and creating the office of Chief of Police. Thus was born the modern Honolulu Police Department as it exists today.
Martial Law
Upon the attack by Japanese naval forces of Honolulu on December 7, 1941, Territorial Governor Joseph B. Poindexter declared Martial Law and the Hawai'i fell under military governance under the Judge Advocate General's Corps. The Honolulu Police Department became a deputized military force. The word Honolulu was etched-out from the seven-point star badges of police officers and replaced with the word Emergency. For the duration of World War II, the Honolulu Police Department was forced to impose restrictions on civil liberties and hand people over for trial by a military judge. Martial Law was dissolved in 1945.
Modernization
The first instance of modernization came in 1952 with the introduction of the Honolulu Police Department's current badge. It was designed by Detective Alfred Karratti and embodies Hawaiian tradition and culture in its motifs. One feature that Detective Karratti kept was the use of the Pulo'ulo'u or kapu staffs. They are symbols of law and order from ancient Hawai'i.
The most aggressive programs of modernization for the Honolulu Police Department came in the 1990s. It was furnished with a fleet of new Ford Crown Victoria police cars equipped with on-board computers and a fleet of BMW and Harley-Davidson motorcycles. On October 16, 1992, the Honolulu Police Department opened its multi-million dollar state-of-the-art police headquarters in downtown Honolulu. The building called Hale Maka'i featured the latest technical advances of its time including a DNA crime lab unit, one of the first of its kind in the nation.