Michael Gusman honored as Kona Patrol Officer of the Month for November
The police officer was recognized for solving a burglary at a fire station that occurred last December.
Kona Patrol Officer Michael Gusman was honored as November Officer of the Month for work that led to an arrest related to a burglary at a Hawaiʻi County fire station.
Gusman was selected for the honor by the Kona Crime Prevention Committee because his “persistence and attention to detail helped bring the investigation to a successful resolution… [and] demonstrated the importance of initiative and sound investigative judgment in police work,” a press release said.
Early on Dec. 19, 2025, Gusman responded to a reported theft of a firefighter’s wallet and clothing from a county fire station. He reviewed surveillance footage from a neighboring church that showed a woman entering the fire station parking lot.
The officer obtained a still image of the woman, shared it with department employees and learned her possible identity. He reviewed her social media profile and found a photo of her wearing the same shirt seen in the surveillance footage.
Gusman contacted the suspect, who voluntarily met him at the police station and confessed to the crime. The woman disclosed she still had some of the victim’s stolen property, which Gusman later recovered and returned to the firefighter
The woman was arrested on burglary and theft charges.
