Question: I live in Mililani and saw a “police car” (no markings) with its blue lights flashing inside the front grille but with no siren go through a red light. At first I thought nothing of it; then I remembered the Lisa Au case from 1982. Police cars at that time could have blue lights inside their car grille or on the dashboard. Then the Honolulu Police Department had a policy change so that only official police vehicles would have blue lights on top of their cars. People then would be able to identify official on-duty officers from bogus ones. Has that policy changed?
Answer: No, although blue lights are allowed on the top of unmarked HPD-subsidized vehicles.
However, the lights have to be issued and installed by HPD, said spokeswoman Michelle Yu. “These lights are mounted on the roof, rear deck and visor, but not the grille,” she said.
Yu said HPD banned the use of blue lights in the grilles of subsidized vehicles after the murder of Au, a 19-year-old hairdresser whose body was found on Tantalus in January 1982.
Witnesses said they thought a police car with blue flashing lights in the grille had stopped Au’s car. There was talk about a police impersonator, but the case remains unsolved.
In “Honolulu Homicide,” which details several of the island’s most infamous murders, former HPD homicide detective Gary Dias and Robbie Dingeman wrote: “Prior to Lisa’s case, motorized police officers … could have these blue lights installed. For some officers, this was a fun thing. They would go out and buy the blue lights and the blinkers that would cause the lights to flash in as fancy a sequence as the officers could think of. Grill lights allowed the officers to pull over cars even when they were off duty.”
But with Au’s murder “and the suspicion that a police officer had pulled her over,” according to the book, “the community no longer accepted the fact that off-duty officers could use grill lights to pull over motorists. Particularly women motorists.”
In April, Hawaii News Now reported that against HPD’s policy, hundreds of officers had installed blue vehicle lights. The reason given was that it was a safety issue — that the lights gave officers more visibility on freeways or other dangerous areas.
“Earlier this year it was discovered that some officers had installed auxiliary blue lights on their subsidized vehicles,” Yu acknowledged. “This is a policy violation, and they were told to have the lights removed.”
Asked whether everyone has complied, she said, “Yes, as far as we know.”
Drivers who see a car with blue grille lights should call 911 with the license number, vehicle description and driver description, she said.
Online Driver’s Applications
As promised, the city now has applications for driver’s licenses, parental consent affidavits and state identification cards available online at www1.honolulu.gov/csd/forms.htm Opens in a new tab.
The Department of Customer Services also has instructions for obtaining a state ID card at its driver’s
licensing offices: www1.honolulu.gov/csd/sid/index.htm Opens in a new tab.
The city took over the task of issuing the ID cards from the state on Wednesday.
Mahalo
To Greg and Richie, two very kind gentlemen who came to my rescue in November.
I was walking home on Nuuanu Avenue with bags of groceries that became too heavy for me to handle. I was beginning to feel weak and faint and began to drop to the sidewalk. A young man working in the area rushed to ask if I needed help. I asked if he wouldn’t mind walking me up the hill to Judd Street. He cleared it with his boss, Richie, who didn’t hesitate to say, “Go right ahead and help her.” Greg walked me home, carrying my groceries.
May they both be blessed with many more new jobs. — Rose
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