Honolulu's Top Cop award this year has gone to a seasoned member of the Hawai‘i Police Department who has made significant headway in resolving violent criminal cases on Hawai‘i Island. Detective David Po‘ohina was recognized for his investigative prowess during a recent ceremony, as reported by the Hawai‘i Police Department.
With a 12-year tenure at the department, Po‘ohina has made his mark since joining the Area I Criminal Investigation Section in November 2023 and was specifically extolled for his role in solving a brutal home invasion robbery from January 2025 and an unsolved 2022 homicide; through meticulous interviews, evidence gathering, and relentless pursuit of DNA testing, the detective managed to identify and charge a suspect for both crimes, demonstrating a level of commitment that both his department and community have come to greatly appreciate.
According to the Hawai‘i Police Department's release, Po‘ohina's first breakthrough came with the identification of a suspect in the violent home invasion, where two assailants assaulted an elderly couple's caretaker. His investigation led to the arrest of the suspect when he returned to Hawai‘i Island, despite the suspect's initial departure out of state.
"Detective Po‘ohina's unwavering dedication to these investigations reflects the professionalism and compassion that define our department," Interim Police Chief Reed Mahuna told the Hawai‘i Police Department while expressing how the detective's efforts brought closure to the cases, delivering peace of mind to the victims' families and upholding the law to the highest standard, the kind of due diligence that's rarely seen but consistently needed in the face of myriad acts of senseless violence.
All the hard work culminated in the additional unravelling of a connection to a prior unsolved 2022 crime where a delivery driver was fatally struck by a vehicle during a truck theft. Po‘ohina's persistence resulted in the same suspect being charged with that homicide as well, now being held without bail.
