The Kona Crime Prevention Committee recently honored three Hawaii Police Department officers as Officers of the Month.
Elijah Won was recognized as Officer of the Month for January 2021, Jeremiah Hull for February 2021 and Kelena Kealoha for March 2021.
Won was nominated for his actions on Sept. 9-10, 2020, when during two early morning beat checks in the Keauhou and Nani Kailua areas of Kona he found suspects committing fuel theft and involved in drug activity, police said. In both cases, Won was praised for his quick and efficient investigations, resulting in multiple charges.
Hull was honored for his proactive policing efforts on Alii Drive. Seeing a vehicle swerving on Kona’s main beach thoroughfare, he conducted a traffic stop and discovered the driver — who didn’t having a driver’s license or insurance — had a loaded, unregistered shotgun, ammunition and drug paraphernalia in the car. The driver and passenger were arrested. In another case, Hull was able to subdue and arrest a man who was chasing a woman with a knife.
Kealoha was honored for his work in separate theft investigations that took place in October 2020. In one case, Kealoha tracked down a suspect wanted for the theft of golf clubs in the Keauhou area. While apprehending the suspect, Kealoha also discovered a shotgun, which the suspect was prohibited by law from possessing, leading to firearms charges against the suspect. In a second case, he was able to locate a suspect wanted in a felony theft investigation and recover a stolen generator and tools.
Officers are nominated by their supervisors from the various police districts and a winner is selected by the KCPC board of directors.
KCPC normally has a monthly luncheon to honor the officer, but because of COVID-19 restrictions, no luncheons have been conducted since March 2020. Instead, KCPC presented plaques to the winners during morning meetings at the Kona Police Station.
All officers selected as Officer of the Month are eligible to be selected as the Kona Crime Prevention Committee’s Officer of the Year.
