Apparent thrill-seekers on bicycles or skateboards or both used the recently finished Hawaii Law Enforcement Memorial as a play rink early Thursday, just days before its dedication.

As a result, dark tire tracks ran up and down and across the panels honoring law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.

So Honolulu police Maj. Kurt Kendro, veteran law enforcement officer Thomas Aiu and another man Kendro declined to name spent their Saturday morning cleaning up the site, between the Kalanimoku Building and Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building Parking Garage, in time for Sunday’s ceremony.

After seeing the destruction in photos posted by friends on Facebook Friday night and Saturday morning, Kendro said, “I called Tommy, packed up my power washer and went down there. We just sprayed as much as we could, cleaned it out as much as we could for the dedication tomorrow.”

The power washer died when an oil seal blew, but by then much of the damage had been cleared, he said. Besides the power washer, the men used nothing more than brushes, buckets and about five or six hoses.

It took about three hours to scour 15 to 20 panels, or roughly half of the exhibit, he said.

Hawaii has been the only state in the nation without a statewide memorial for law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. A group led by Aiu, his late wife, Joan Gribbin-Aiu, and others spent a number of years fighting to get government and private sponsors for the project.

The state agreed to donate the 1-acre site to the Hawaii Law Enforcement Association Foundation for the memorial in 2011.

The rest of the project’s $1 million in funding is coming through private donors.

Kendro said he feels a strong kinship with the memorial as well, having known a number of those killed in the line of duty.

His best friend was Troy Barboza, who entered the police academy with him.

Barboza, an undercover officer, was killed in his Manoa home in 1987.

“I had nothing better to do so it was like — you gotta do what’s right,” said Kendro, who heads the Kapolei patrol district but is scheduled to retire in several weeks.

Sheriffs were to monitor the site overnight to ensure no further damage is done before the dedication.

Honolulu’s Police Week begins Monday.