Data Dive: Crime has dropped in Honolulu, but police officers still have difficulty solving cases

The number of crimes reported in Honolulu fell by a whopping 28%between 2021 and 2024. Although fewer cases were able to investigate, the percentage of the crimes dissolved by the police did not improve the same pace.

According to the public dashboard of the Honolulu Police Department, which logs the release rate of the department – the proportion of crimes that have led to an arrest or other solution, such as the death of a perpetrator or a lack of cooperation by the victim.

Last year, the police made up around 21% of the more than 37,000 crimes reported in O'ahu. In 2020, only about 17% of the 52,045 were triggered by the island.

The clearance rates for O'ahu vary strongly after the case. While the department recorded significant improvements in solving crimes such as robberies, his rate for other crimes – including murder – went in the opposite direction.

The department did not respond to inquiries about comments.

HPD with murders, thefts to fight

The overall downward crime trend in the past three years has a remarkable exception: the police recorded 37 murders in 2024, the best of every year in 2020. Last year, the release rate for murders was the lowest in three years – only 57%.

So far, HPD has recorded and clarified two murders this year. According to the dashboard, however, 16 murders of 2024 have not yet been cleared.

More than half of the crimes last year included a kind of theft, including theft, theft, burglary, stolen property, robbery and embezzlement. Some of these crimes consistently have some of the lowest clearance rates in the department.

Theft alone made up more than a third of the cases last year, of which around 90% were unsolved. While the resolution rate for robbery has increased to around 27%, the police only closed 127 of the 1,647 burglaries in 2024 – less than 8%.

The department also consistently solves less than 3% of motor vehicle thefts, significantly lower than the national average of 9.3% in 2022.

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