Assaults on Honolulu
police officers are up 21% this year compared with the same period last year, and are on pace to surpass 2024’s total of 43 cases, the Honolulu Police Department announced Thursday in a news release.
As of Tuesday, there had been 35 assaults on HPD
officers in 2025, which is six more than the 29 cases from Jan. 1, 2024, to Oct. 7, 2024.
“The rise in assaults on
officers is deeply concerning,” HPD Interim Chief Rade Vanic said in a written statement. “Assaults on officers are a complex issue driven by multiple factors — including mental health crises, substance abuse and increased confrontational
behavior.”
The announcement comes seven days after the Oct. 2 fatal shooting by police of Sonny Siofele, a 50-year-old man, outside The Queen’s Medical Center on Punchbowl Street.
In the Oct. 2 shooting, two patrol officers were responding to a call of a man with a gun who had expressed suicidal thoughts, Vanic said at a news conference on Oct. 2.
Police said Siofele, a
convicted felon, pulled a revolver from his waistband and pointed it at the officers, who fired at Siofele. He died at the hospital of a gunshot wound to the chest, the
Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said.
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Siofele was convicted in 2023 of misdemeanor criminal property damage, misdemeanor and felony assault of a police officer in 2013, and petty theft in 2013.
The officers, both with five years of service at HPD, were placed on administrative leave as is standard procedure, while an internal investigation is being
conducted.
Vanic said whenever officers are dealing with someone who is armed or potentially armed, they want to ensure they keep themselves and the public safe.
“Once that person decides to use deadly force, and point a gun at an officer or a member of the public, then officers are trained to take the necessary action to keep not only themselves but the public safe as well.”
Vanic said it appears the officers followed their training and department policy and procedures.
Although the officers were not injured, Vanic said it’s tough being an officer, and experiencing such a situation is traumatic for them.
HPD said most assaults on police officers occur during routine cases such as domestic incidents, intoxication and mental health-related calls.
That is why multiple officers are often called on to make an arrest, particularly when dealing with combative people, HPD said.
“Reducing these incidents requires a whole-of-community effort, not just more officers,” Vanic said.
HPD said it has addressed officer safety with the following steps:
>> Expanding training and protective protocols for high-risk calls;
>> Increasing coordination with mental health and substance abuse response partners;
>> Reviewing deployment strategies to ensure the best use of available resources;
>> Continuing to invest
in officer wellness and
resilience.
Vanic stressed the seriousness of crimes against law enforcement officers.
“It is a felony under state law to intentionally or knowingly cause bodily injury to a law enforcement officer, and our officers expect that suspects who assault them will be held accountable,” he said.
State law has a much stiffer penalty for crimes against a law enforcement officer than against civilians.
In the event an individual shoots, drives at or otherwise injures or attempts to injure a police officer, prosecutors have charged the person with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, which is attempted murder in the first degree. Punishment for that crime is life without the possibility of parole. The same crime against a civilian is second-degree murder, which is punishable by a term of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.
An HPD spokesperson said on Thursday the department was unable to gather data from past years given the same-day request, but did provide data for 2025 showing a rate of 80% for individuals being charged with assaulting an officer, up from 2024’s overall rate. (The 2024 rate was not provided.)
That translates to 26 adults and two juveniles who were arrested and charged in 2025 with assault on officers. Four were arrested, but not charged; two adult complaints were declined; and one resulted in the death of the offender.
After the Honolulu Star-Advertiser requested more information on HPD’s response to incidents involving suicidal and mentally ill people, HPD provided a second news release saying it is strengthening its response to mental health-related calls through its Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), which is a collaboration between law enforcement, mental health professionals and community advocates.
The program provides officers with specialized training to recognize signs of a mental health crisis and to respond with “empathy, patience and effective de-escalation strategies,” HPD said.
“Crisis Intervention Team is more than a training that provides 40 hours of education and skill-building for officers to support people in crisis,” said Kumi Macdonald, executive director of National Alliance on Mental Illness Hawaii; and Heather Lusk, executive director of the Hawai‘i Health &Harm Reduction Center. “CIT brings together law enforcement, clinicians and mental health advocates to enhance communication, (to) identify mental health resources for assisting people in crisis, and (to build) community.
“It also ensures that
officers get effective de-escalation training and the support that they need, which results in increased safety for all.”
Many HPD officers have successfully used their training and have literally talked a suicidal person off a ledge.
On Sept. 1, 2025, District 1 officers called for a CIT-certified officer after they recognized they had a mental health crisis on their hands. They found a woman sitting on the ledge of the fourth floor of a parking garage. She told officers she was contemplating ending her life. The officer, employing CIT training, managed to guide her away from the ledge and to safety.
Office Tiare Perry, a CIT-trained officer, responded to a distraught woman on the ledge of a 32nd-floor bathroom window.
“Despite her own fear of heights, Perry used her training to connect with the woman and safely bring her inside, preventing what could have been a fall of more than 300 feet.”
She was the first recipient of Hawaii’s CIT Officer Award, and earned HPD’s Certificate of Merit and First Responder of the Year award.
And on Sept. 30, 2024, District 4 officers encountered a man who appeared ready to jump from a ledge of the H-3 freeway. The officers used CIT training techniques to help move him from the ledge and got him the care he needed.
“Moments like these define our purpose,” Vanic said. “Crisis intervention training gives officers the tools they need to protect lives while treating each individual with humanity and respect.”
