Who says “Honolulu wants an anti-ICE police chief?”
Well, at least one headline writer at Civil Beat. Possibly the reporter and the editors. Do read “Honolulu Wants Next Police Chief To Be Anti-ICE, Pro-transparency,” published there last Friday, for a close-up look at advocacy journalism.
When I give talks about media bias and media literacy, I share my four questions for detecting bias, and I'll just run through this quickly, because there’s more interesting things to say about what the next HPD chief needs to do.
Question No. 1: “Who is telling me this?” The byline is reporter Madeleine Valera, but more so it's the people she and her editors selected for interviews who make the case that Honolulu — the whole city? really? — wants an anti-ICE police chief. Unnamed, uncounted “some Honolulu residents” get cited as the source for this desire. So does UH sociology professor Nandita Sharma. So does Gaye Chan, a reliably leftwing former UH art professor, current contemporary artist and activist; as does Liam Chinn, facilitator with the Hawai‘i Community Safety Coalition.
So "some residents," and these three people. Out of 1 million residents on O‘ahu. Pretty thin case for “Honolulu wants …”
“Whose side are they on?” Well, clearly not on the side of federal immigration enforcement, or on the side of anyone in Honolulu supporting such enforcement.
“Why am I hearing this now?” In this case, the obvious reason that the search for the next chief of police is entering its final steps soon. If one wanted to pressure the police commission to choose an anti-ICE activist for a chief, this is the time and this is the headline.
“What are they not telling me?” The article interviewed absolutely no one with an opposing point of view.
The only number cited in the article is 525. That’s the number of people who have, so far, participated in the Honolulu Police Commission’s community survey for what Honolulu residents want in a chief. As Civil Beat notes, “70% said transparency and openness were the top qualities they wanted to see in the next chief.”
No objection there. If that survey is the source for the anti-ICE sentiment, the article doesn’t say and the survey doesn’t directly ask. People could be writing it in.
You can take the survey here, until April 1. Please do. Barely 500 people out of 1 million is not a lot of community input and the low number strikes me as very vulnerable to committed activists making sure their voice is loudest.
But enough about media bias. We have more important things to talk about. I think the next police chief’s top three priorities should be:
- Solve crimes.
- Solve crimes.
- Solve crimes.
Should be obvious, but historically, HPD has clearance rates lower than national averages, especially for property crimes. Surprisingly, the police commission's survey didn't directly address this, and should have.
The state Attorney General’s website has a wealth of crime stats online, check it out for yourself. The most recent year available is 2024, in which Honolulu saw 37,722 offenses — down nearly 7% from 2023 — of which 7,776 were cleared for an overall clearance rate of 20.6%.
Nationwide, in 2024, nearly 44% of violent crimes and 16% of property crimes are cleared — meaning that a suspect was arrested, or a suspect was identified but died, or a victim declined to press charges.
What cleared means, basically, is, “We caught ’em!” Which I think is what we all really want from the police, isn’t it?
Here’s how HPD performed in 2024, ranked by clearance rate, taken straight from the AG's database. The number in parenthesis is the number of offenses reported that year. Clearances in 2024 may have been for offenses from previous years. Let’s look at murder for an example of how to read this: In 2024, there were 21 murders, and HPD cleared 57% of their murder investigations, which may have included murders from previous years.
Percentages here are rounded for readability.
What Honolulu likely wants, way more than it wants a political activist, is a police chief who can bring these clearance numbers up, up, up.
- 100% — Gambling – betting/wagering (1)
- 62% — Stolen property offenses (590)
- 60% — Sexual assault w/object (10)
- 57% — Murder (21)
- 50% — Negligent manslaughter (2)
- 47% — Assault, simple (7,009)
- 43% — Drugs/narcotics violations (1,727)
- 41% — Assault – aggravated (1,147)
- 40% — Drug equipment violations (111)
- 39% — Human trafficking, commercial sex acts (18)
- 36% — Prostitution (11)
- 36% — Theft, shoplifting (2,285)
- 34% — Assault – intimidation (1,250)
- 33% — Prostitution – purchasing (3)
- 33% — Sodomy/oral sex (9)
- 32% — Animal cruelty (63)
- 31% — Weapons law violations (453)
- 27% — Robbery (576)
- 26% — Rape (324)
- 24% — Fondling (432)
- 20% — Kidnapping (164)
- 19% — Embezzlement (47)
- 18% — Counterfeiting/forgery (369)
- 17% — Pornography/obscene material (108)
- 13% — Arson (195)
- 10% — Destruction/vandalism (853)
- 10% — Gambling – equipment violations (105)
- 10% — Statutory rape (20)
- 9% — Theft – purse snatching (139)
- 9% — Fraud – false pretenses — (1,304)
- 9% — Theft - from building (937)
- 8% — Theft – from coin machine (12)
- 7% — Gambling – operating/promoting (113)
- 7% — Burglary (1,624)
- 6% — Fraud, identity theft (351)
- 5% — Theft - all other (5,500)
- 4% — Theft – pickpocketing (205)
- 4% — Extortion/blackmail (123)
- 2% — Fraud – hacking/computer invasions (54)
- 2% — Fraud – impersonation (102)
- 2% — Theft from motor vehicle (3,795)
- 2% — Motor vehicle theft (3,596)
- 2% — Fraud – credit card (1,118)
- 1% — Theft – motor vehicle parts (515)
- 0.3% — Fraud – wire (324)
- 0% — Incest (2)
- 0% — Fraud – welfare (1)
- 0% — Prostitution – assisting/promoting (2)
- 0% — Human trafficking, involuntary servitude (2)
- N/A — Bribery (0) N/A
- N/A — Gambling – sports tampering (0)
A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.
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A. Kam Napier can be reached at kam@alohastatedaily.com.
