Sgt. Chris Kim never pictured himself as coordinator of Honolulu Police Department’s CrimeStoppers program.
At 43, he has worked for HPD for 20 years and as a detective since 2010, three years in homicide. When Sgt. Kim Buffett retired in September as CrimeStoppers chief, Kim gave it some thought, but then learned HPD had someone in mind.
The divorced father has shared custody of his children, and being on call around the clock began to take its toll on him and his two young daughters.
One night there was a reckoning. Homicide detectives respond to unattended deaths, and this time he was called out to two suicides in succession. Kim told the sobbing widow he would help with the aftermath.
“As I’m cleaning up, that’s when I told myself, ‘I’m done. I need to do something else,’” he said.
Lo and behold, the CrimeStoppers job came open again, Kim accepted, and the community partnership has been satisfying to him.
CrimeStoppers started in Honolulu in 1981. A joint effort with the state Department of Education, the Student CrimeStoppers affiliate was born 16 years later, followed by Animal CrimeStoppers, a partnership with the Hawaiian Humane Society responding to reports of animal abuse.
CrimeStoppers throughout has remained functionally the same — citizens can communicate information anonymously, without police coming to their house, and with a reward offered. In the era of smartphone apps — CrimeStoppers uses one called P3 Tips — the communications channel has opened even wider.
And it works. Recent crime-solving collaborations include the sexual assault case at Lucky Strike Social and the hit-and-run in Kunia; both advanced with tips from CrimeStoppers.
“Last year, we answered 2,631 calls which led to 37 arrests and the closing of 234 cases,” he said.
Kim went to Kaimuki High School and Honolulu Community College with the aim of becoming a mechanic, but also joined some friends in applying to HPD. When the police-academy call came in, he took the opportunity.
He hasn’t regretted that change of tracks. And now, he believes he’s in the best job of his career.
“I think I’ve found my calling,” he said.
QUESTION: What are the Crime- Stoppers staffing and budget like? And how many cases are handled in an average year?
ANSWER: Our staffing at CrimeStoppers consists of the coordinator (an HPD sergeant), an HPD officer and a civilian secretary. We currently have 25 civilian volunteers who take phone calls.
On the average, we receive over 2,400 anonymous calls and issue over 300 news releases a year – each release about a crime that could be solved or a missing person who could be located if witnesses come forward.
CrimeStoppers is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation that relies on donations and fundraising to finance our operations. We are governed by a board of directors made up of 16 unpaid volunteers who provide guidance to our CrimeStoppers staff and are in charge of our two big fundraising events for the year: the spring fundraising dinner and the golf tournament each August.
The board of directors is diverse and made up of business leaders, professional experts in a wide range of fields, community members and retired police officials. The board members give freely of their time because they believe this program makes a difference in creating a safer community.
Q: Can you describe your typical routine? How do you decide what to put out to the public?
A: A typical day consists of reviewing daily HPD highlights and arrest logs to see if any featured CrimeStoppers fugitives were arrested, developing weekly wanted postings for our KHON2 “Most Wanted,” Hawaii News Now’s “Wanted Wednesdays” and Midweek’s “CrimeStoppers“ section.
We also post fugitives on the Honolulu Police Department’s Na Maka website where the public and the media can view photos and/or video of featured cases. We also monitor and update our various CrimeStoppers social media platforms.
During the school year, we work in partnership with Angela Kaiwikuamoohoihou of the Department of the Attorney General’s Office and do Student CrimeStoppers presentations to students and faculty at various schools islandwide.
We also work with other organizations to spread the CrimeStoppers message. For example, we work with the Adult Friends for Youth organization, speaking at its annual anti-bullying conference, which is attended by approximately 5,000 students over two days.
We talk about staying safe in cyberspace and about bullying. We also speak to them about the various ways that they can submit tips to us anonymously.
As for how we decide what to feature, oftentimes HPD investigators will reach out to CrimeStoppers to assist them in locating and identifying suspects. We also view the warrant files to select fugitives from that list to be featured in our weekly submissions to our local media partners.
Q:You mentioned Student Crime- Stoppers — how does that work?
A: The Student CrimeStoppers Program is actually huge now. We’re really pushing it, we go to these schools … currently, we’re up to 55 now.
Last year we did a presentation to these principals and vice principals at Mililani High School … Long story short, their media class and myself, we developed the video that is played in their homeroom every single day, talking about our program. …
When school resumed after the winter break, our phones were blowing up. It’s awesome. … They were having a huge drug problem out there.
So, since we started this and they’ve been playing this in their homeroom every day, these kids are submitting tips. All these high school kids have smartphones these days, so they come to school and they see someone with contraband or drugs or whatever, and immediately, just from their desks, they’re submitting tips. …
Q: Has this job affected your approach to police work in some way?
A: Yes, definitely! This job has made one thing crystal clear: the importance of the community getting involved and having an active role in making our communities safer and helping to solve crimes. I’ve also realized the importance of building a strong relationship with the media, which helps disseminate information about crimes and missing individuals.
Q: Does the anonymous nature of the reports work well to bring people forward? Or are people still hesitant or afraid to report?
A: I believe that the CrimeStoppers program definitely helps encourage people to come forward with tips because they are assured that their identity will remain anonymous. Oftentimes people want to help, but are afraid of retaliation. With CrimeStoppers, their identities are never known to anyone.
Something particularly interesting about our Student CrimeStoppers program is that many of the rewards are never collected. The students are not interested in the money, but just want their schools and communities to be safer.
Q: How has technology changed the operation, if it has? And are there any other changes on the horizon?
A: Technology has definitely changed the CrimeStoppers operation. A significant change has been the introduction of the P3 Tips app in 2016. It allows people to submit tips to us anonymously via their smartphones.
This feature has had a huge impact on our Student CrimeStoppers program in particular; students are reporting crimes happening in their schools from the convenience of their smartphones without ever having to speak to anyone.
Q:Do any CrimeStoppers informants cross over and become witnesses in the actual investigation, or do they usually keep their distance?
A: Most times, our tipsters want to help, but prefer to remain anonymous. But there have been times when they’ll tell us that they don’t mind meeting with investigators and becoming witnesses. …
We had one just the other day where they called. … They said, “I’ll talk to the detective. I’ll let them know what I saw, whatever they need.”
My officer said, “Well, if you do that, you’re no longer eligible for this reward.” And the party said, “It was never about the reward anyway; I don’t even want the reward. I just want to help solve this case.”
