KCPC names Ansel Robinson Officer of the Year

KAILUA-KONA — The Kona Crime Prevention Committee named Officer Ansel Robinson its 2019 Officer of the Year.

Robinson was twice honored as Officer of the Month for drug-related arrests.

Robinson earned his first award in November 2018 for an arrest on Alii Drive in Kona, where he found a male suspect sleeping in the back seat of a pickup truck and detected a strong smell of marijuana. The man exited the truck, and when asked about the odor didn’t say anything but went into the vehicle and poured out a garbage bag full of a green leafy substance that appeared to be marijuana.

Robinson recognized the male party as a person who sells illegal drugs in Kona. Knowing this, he got vice officers involved as he suspected more illegal drugs were in the truck. Vice officers executed a search warrant and recovered additional marijuana, cocaine and several hundred dollars in cash.

For Robinson’s second award in March, he responded to an anonymous tip of a driver who appeared to be driving drunk and selling drugs.

Robinson found the vehicle in the parking lot of a bar and observed two individuals walking up to other vehicles and making hand-to-hand exchanges before heading to another bar. Another officer observed the driver using a cellphone while driving and initiated a traffic stop.

Robinson assisted with the stop and observed a glass pipe in the vehicle’s center console. The driver was arrested, and after executing a search warrant on the vehicle, vice officers recovered marijuana, cocaine, prescription medications, mushrooms and $971 in cash.

“Officer Ansel Robinson demonstrates strong determination and resolve,” said Sgt. David Araki in his nomination of Robinson.

The award was presented during the committee’s annual Officer of the Year luncheon Sept. 18 at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel in Kailua-Kona.