Core Values First

In this business, core values separate the mediocre from the excellent. For me, it starts with being customer centric, even when the customer – or their family – is tangled in serious legal trouble. That takes experience, dedication, and hard work.

This newsletter touches on two major themes:

1. The difficulty of serving customers with outer island warrants.

2. A warning to those in power: someone is going to get hurt under the current system.

The Story

I have a pair of clients, released pending investigation. There is no way to self-surrender and post bail on their home island, since my personal contact with the Big Island Police was fraught with excuses as to why Hawaii Island Police can't reliably confirm Oahu warrants. Because of the difficulty of verifying info, my clients could simply be refused self-surrender, or kept in custody without bail for up to a week, then perhaps extradited to Oahu, since warrant information was not available to Hawaii Island Police in-house. Not my quote right there, that’s what I was told by a Big Island desk Sargent.

This was obviously a scare tactic to encourage my clients to "go away," since what was actually going on here is that it was too much trouble to figure out. So "go away" makes more sense than "figure it out." We've all had the experience of dealing with a government employee who would rather give you excuses than make the extra effort to solve a problem. It's easier to say "we can't" than to try.

The sheriff’s office was more helpful, but ultimately would require an ex-officio filing, which again is, on paper, the easy solution. However, when performing such a filing in reality, it would be logistically impossible to file a bail bond packet that fits Oahu's requirements, using Hawaii Island-specific bail paperwork.

Just as a quick example: on Oahu, the bail bond cover sheet and power of attorney are used for release. On Hawaii Island, they instead certify their own Hawaii Island-specific BBRA form, which Oahu's circuit court doesn't use. So ex-officio filing is nearly impossible since each court certify island specific documents, and filing clerks have the right to refuse certification of another circuit’s paperwork.

Why This Happens

Serving an outer island warrant takes real effort. Law enforcement has to:

• Verify the warrant through infrequently used & unclear procedures.

• Coordinate with another county's court for booking information & hearing date.

• Risk wrongful arrest liability and logistical headaches.

Or, they can just say:

"We can't verify the warrant. You might be in custody for up to a week waiting for extradition."

Problem solved. Move on with the day. The defendant? They're left in limbo, potentially continuing criminal behavior, or in my client’s case, forced to spend hundreds to self-surrender on Oahu simply because nobody wants to do the paperwork.

Lunch, Bets, and Priorities

Let’s be real. For some officers, it’s easier to:

• Debate what’s for lunch.

• Check fantasy football lineups or betting lines.

• Get paid the same and NOT do the extra work of processing an outer island bench warrant.

If there’s no incentive or penalty, why process a complicated outer island warrant?!

How I Solved the Problem

Unfortunately, only a competent and willing private attorney has the standing to reach out to the prosecutor's office to get a warrant like this cleared. The private attorney of record made a call to the prosecutor's office, explained the issue, then one phone call from the prosecutor's office to the sheriff's office magically energized and authorized the office to accept the self-surrender in Hilo, while I filed the bail bond on Oahu. Without "the fix being in," there's no possible route to compel law enforcement agencies to sort through the additional work required for an outside assist.

Point #2 Expanded

It’s important to note how easy it would be for an actual career criminal to run a criminal operation on one island, then simply live on another, leveraging local law enforcement’s aversion to serve outer island warrants to their advantage. Pair that with our current "released pending investigation" norms for non-violent crimes like drug dealing, and you've got a recipe for an organized crime disaster.

The solution is simple: unlock the barriers between different law enforcement agencies across islands. After all, the goal is public safety and justice for victims — not petty paperwork wars between outer island offices.

Final Thoughts

My core value remains: putting the client first. But public safety deserves the same priority. The current system isn’t just outdated – it’s dangerous. You’ll see, it’s only a matter of time before the bad guys figure out how to do crimes on one island, then simply reside on another.