CrimeStoppers Honolulu coordinator Sgt. Chris Kim has won the 2019 CrimeStoppers USA national award for Coordinator of the Year.

He beat out coordinators from 350 other programs registered across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Kim was recognized Thursday at the state Capitol for his work and the changes that he helped employ within the past two years since he stepped into the position in September 2017. He is the first to receive the national award in the 37 years of the Honolulu program’s history.

The sergeant also serves as a volunteer crisis negotiator for the Honolulu Police Department, responding to several calls in 2018.

Kim received the award in Tempe, Ariz., at the 2019 CrimeStoppers USA conference, and had been a guest speaker there but was unaware he was being honored. “I was literally speechless and I just started crying.”

Kim, who seems comfortable in front of the camera asking for the public’s help in solving crimes, said he had a fear of public speaking and was not good at it.

“In the beginning I didn’t want it,” said Kim, who was a homicide detective when his predecessor suggested he apply for the position she was vacating. “I was always an investigator in theft, major crimes, then homicide.”

But he was at a turning point in his life, nearing the end of a yearlong divorce, and would soon have joint custody of his two daughters, then ages 9 and 4.

Being called out often in the middle of the night worried his children, and he needed to find something with more stable hours, so he applied.

A short time later he got called to a suicide. After the body had been removed, the surviving wife asked who would clean up the bloody mess. Since no one came, Kim got a garbage bag and towels and did the job.

When he got home he broke down and cried, asking himself how he had became so desensitized, and realized, “I need to focus on my kids.”

The next day, Kim said, he got a call saying he got the job.

Ever since, he’s worked to improve the program.

When he saw the number of tips had declined and fewer cases were being solved, he promoted the use of the P3 Tips app, including use of its information on police cars. From 2017 to 2018, tips increased 200% using the app, which allows the public to submit tips anonymously on smartphones. “You couldn’t do that before,” he said.

If someone submits a tip using the app, it allows detectives to contact the sender through the app, he said.

CrimeStoppers took in 3,088 tips in 2018, which led to 34 arrests and 458 cases being closed. Out of the 3,088 tips, roughly 2,700 came through the app.

When it was suggested Honolulu’s volunteer program follow what many mainland CrimeStoppers organizations do — using call centers to route calls to the police departments — he thought that would not work here.

He put out the word that the program was looking for eight to 10 more volunteers, and he got 650 applicants, with a 120% increase in hours volunteered in 2018 from 2017.

And Kim has apparently overcome his fear of public speaking, talking with school groups to promote the Student CrimeStoppers, speaking on topics such as anti- bullying. That program has seen a 400% increase in tips from 2017 to 2018.

He also has promoted Animal CrimeStoppers, which saw a 200% increase in tips from 2017 to 2018.