2 West Hawaii Officers Honored for Outstanding Police Work

The Kona Crime Prevention Committee recently honored two Hawai‘i Police Department officers as Officer of the Month for February and April during an awards ceremony at Huggo’s on the Rocks in Kona on Wednesday, May 4.

For his tenacity in a financial crimes investigation that resulted in three people charged for a total of 25 offenses, including 13 felonies, officer Conrad Iranon was honored as Officer of the Month for February.

On Nov. 8, 2021, Iranon responded to a local shop to meet a visitor whose bag, including wallet, credit cards, and passport had recently been stolen. The victim had traced a fraudulent credit card purchase made with her stolen credit card to the store.

While conducting his investigation, Iranon noticed a man and woman come onto the store property and recognized that the man was wearing the same shorts as the suspect in the store’s video surveillance using the stolen credit card. The woman was carrying a bag that matched the victim’s stolen bag. Both suspects were arrested. The stolen bag and its contents, including passport, wallet, and driver’s license were returned to the visitor.

It was later learned that four additional fraudulent charges had been made at four different locations in Kona. Financial crimes are often complex and time consuming to investigate and successfully seek charges. Working quickly, Iranon came in on his day off to follow up on leads at multiple scenes. Through his dedicated efforts, a third suspect was discovered and arrested in the course of the investigation.

The initial male suspect was charged with 19 offenses, including 10 felonies with a total bail of $109,000. The female suspect was charged with two offenses with bail set at $2,250. The third suspect was charged with four offenses, including three felonies, with his bail set at $6,500.

Officer Wyattlane Nahale was honored as Officer of the Month for April for his proactive community policing, particularly with spearheading outreach projects for the homeless in West Hawai‘i.

Nahale initiated the Homeless Outreach Nurturing Our Community (H.O.N.OUR) Project in 2019. The initiative enables homeless individuals to give back to the community through service projects in collaboration with community groups, county government, and law enforcement. In addition, the H.O.N.OUR Project assists homeless individuals with employment, identification, as well as transportation and housing needs.

In addition to his work with the H.O.N.OUR Project, Nahale addresses community concerns and issues in his role as the department’s liaison with the 808 Homeless Task Force in Kailua-Kona and the Kailua Village Business Improvement District. He is also the liaison with the County of Hawai‘i Department Parks and Recreation on beautification projects and coordinates with area Neighborhood and Business Watch programs.

Both officers are assets to the department and the community they serve.

Every month the Kona Crime Prevention Committee honors a police officer in west Hawai‘i as their Officer of the Month. Officers are nominated by their supervisors from the various police districts and a winner is selected by the KCPC board of directors. All officers selected for Officer of the Month are eligible to be selected as the Kona Crime Prevention Committee’s Officer of the Year.