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Chief Lawrence K. Mahuna
...to retire December 31

Media Release

After more than 35 years of service, Chief Lawrence K. Mahuna will retire from the Hawaii Police Department on December 31, 2008.

During much of his tenure as chief, Mahuna has been working to make the Police Department more professional and  providing a good relationship with the rank and file, civilian workers and SHOPO membership. In working toward the goal of making the Hawaii Police Department as professional as possible, the chief has had a lieutenant working full time to bring the department into standards required for CALEA, the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies. The Police Department now systematically provides its officers with new and continuing training in many aspects of police work that are CALEA sanctioned.

Immediately after the Hawaii County Police Commission named Mahuna as chief on December 9, 2002, he approved an employee-management generated mission statement, vision statement and a list of core values to guide the department's employees in the accomplishment of their duties. At every opportunity, he has reminded his officers and staff to live by those values. He believes adherence to the core values and mission and vision statements will produce officers who are more professional and compassionate when dealing with citizens and visitors in Hawaii County.

As chief, Mahuna opened his office to employees and members of the community so problem solving could start at the very top. He made one of his prime priorities to restore confidence in the police promotions process so all officers would know they had a fair chance at advancement. "I had officers come into my office to thank me for considering them even when someone else got the promotion, as they knew that they were treated fairly and that promotions were always based on the merit principal," the chief said.

Under Mahuna's leadership, the Police Department formed the Special Response Team, created a police cadet program, initiated the electronic Records Management System and launched a Wireless Enhanced 911 system. One of the chief's highest priorities was to augment officers' safety by equipping them with expandable batons and electronic control devices. With the use of continuous police recruitment, Mahuna has been successful in reducing vacancies and by the end of this year, the department expects to operate at full strength for the first time since 1999. Mahuna said that if it were not for the skill of his subordinate officers and their dedication to the department, many of these programs could not have been accomplished.

One of the chief's most successful accomplishments was to establish the Ice Task Force on both the east and west sides of the island. Combining the task force and the department's partnership with the community, police have reduced the supply of crystal methamphetamine and incarcerated members of "ice" drug trafficking organizations, which inflict irreparable harm on Big Island families.

Mahuna plans to spend his retirement doing volunteer work with parents of "at risk" juveniles who are or may be using illicit drugs. He hopes that instructing these parents in appropriate parenting techniques -- with a focus on higher education -- could help relieve an overburdened prison system while increasing the number of juveniles who could become productive assets to their community.

Mahuna will miss police work but, more than that, he will miss the Police Department's ohana and working with representatives of the community and his oversight body, the Police Commission. He believes that many of the goals that have been accomplished in the past six years could not have been done if the majority of officers and civilian workers did not believe in the need for change and the direction that he was taking the department. 

Mahuna summarized the duties of the police chief in the most simplest terms: "To increase the propensity of bringing that officer back to his or her family and loved ones in the same way that he or she left them is, of course, paramount. Second, the way you give the officer the edge is by having the best-trained, best-equipped and best-guided instructors and field training officers that the budget can afford. And finally, one must have the ability to listen, as this may give rise to a straightforward answer from a subordinate, which may enhance the officers' working conditions and morale."

Chief Mahuna believes that he has accomplished many of the goals he set out to achieve through teamwork and team spirit. "It is now time to hand over a much superior and professional Police Department, so that the next chief selected by the Police Commission will take the Hawaii Police Department to new heights of excellence," he said.

Before being named chief, Mahuna served as assistant chief in charge of the Administrative Bureau and then became acting police chief.

He joined the Police Department as a recruit in February 1973. During his police career, Mahuna served as a detective in the Vice Section and Criminal Investigations Section, captain in command of the North Kohala District and South Kohala District, and major in charge of the Technical Services Division in the Administrative Bureau.

Mahuna is a graduate of Kamehameha High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology with honors from Washington State University.

Chief Mahuna notified the Hawaii County Police Commissioners Lassiter, Whittemore, Behenna, Kaoiwi, Lundkvist, Morimoto, Politano Steckel, and Sumja, that he will be retiring effective December 31, 2008.  The Police Commission will place a vacancy announcement in both daily local newspapers. For additional information, call the Police Commission's office at 961-8412.