The Kona Crime Prevention Committee honored three Officer of the Year recipients Thursday at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel after the annual event was canceled the past two years due to the COVID pandemic.
Wyattlane Nahale was named 2020 Officer of the Year for coming up with an “out of the box” concept to help homeless individuals in the community, launching the H.O.N.OUR Community Project (Homeless Outreach Nurturing Our Community) launched in 2019.
The program’s concept is to integrate homeless individuals into a process to give back to the community through service projects around Kona.
Elijah Won was the proud recipient of the 2021 Officer of the Year award for his diligent efforts to enforce the law, preserve peace and provide a safe environment. Won was nominated due to his work in apprehending thieves and drug dealers while conducting beat checks in 2020.
The 2022 Officer of the year was named Thursday from a field of 11 candidates, each previously named Officer of the Month. Those officers were Adam Hanes, Charles Caldwell-Kaai, Dustin Medeiros, Dwayne Sluss, Elijah Won, Reuben Pukahi, Conrad Iranon, Justin Gaspar, Wyattlane Nahale, Bryan Ellis and Len Hamakado
Justin Gaspar was chosen for his work in taking a substantial amount of narcotics off the streets of West Hawaii.
In November, Gaspar conducted a vehicle interdiction that turned into a significant narcotics investigation. By developing informants and cooperating defendants and working with other agencies, Gaspar was able to dismantle a local drug distribution organization, which was being supplied by a Mexican cartel. Subsequently, 5 pounds of meth, over 7,000 fentanyl pills and one kilogram of pure powdered fentanyl, with a street value of over $1 million was recovered.
The investigation resulted in the arrest of one of the main suppliers of narcotics to the island and cut off multiple local narcotic distributors.
For over 50 years, the Kona Crime Prevention Committee has encouraged community involvement in aiding and supporting the Hawaii County Police Department Kona District in their efforts to prevent crime, deter potential criminals and enforce the law. They hold Officer of the Month awards the first Wednesday of every month.