For his invaluable leadership overseeing Hawai‘i Police Department’s East Hawai‘i Special Enforcement Unit (SEU), Detective Keith Simeona was honored with the Haweo Award during a ceremony held at Hawai‘i County Council chambers in Hilo on Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
In addition to his leadership, Detective Simeona, of the East Hawai‘i Criminal Investigation Section, was lauded for his investigative skills and mentorship of prior and current members of the SEU.
Part of the department’s East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division, SEU is comprised of three patrol officers and a dedicated detective responsible for the criminal apprehension of perpetrators in high profile cases. In addition, SEU works with patrol, community policing, criminal investigations, and the vice unit on various other tasks involving efforts to keep the community safe.
Patrol officers assigned to SEU are exposed to police work they would not be able to perform in a uniform capacity. The result is better-trained officers that have more in-depth experience at criminal investigation, problem solving, and criminal apprehension. When they return to patrol, they become an important aspect of the crime fighting effort and an invaluable resource for patrol commanders.
Detective Simeona has led the Special Enforcement Unit for about two years. Every six months he gets newly assigned patrol officers that he is responsible for managing, training, organizing, and supervising. Detective Simeona is a former SEU officer himself, having worked in the unit while being assigned to South Hilo as a patrol officer.
The identified criminals sought by SEU are the worst of the worst and pose the biggest threat to community safety. In the last six months, Detective Simeona and his team have been responsible for the apprehension of four individuals who were wanted for a total of 513 criminal complaints. The four individuals were wanted for various felonies including, multitude property crimes, firearms and drug offenses, as well as crimes against a person.
One of the fugitives was wanted for multiple drug offenses after police discovered that this person was distributing pounds of methamphetamine. In addition to this criminal activity, this person was known to use firearms in order to facilitate the drug dealing, protection, and collection of proceeds from those sales.
After fleeing from police several times in different vehicles to avoid apprehension, the fugitive was apprehended after an extensive effort by the SEU team spearheaded by Detective Simeona.
Detective Simeona’s mentorship of SEU members was also recognized as part of the Haweo award. Unit members credit him with creating a hard working team environment. As one unit member stated, Detective Simeona “provides guidance, [is] there for crucial decisions, shares valuable experiences/knowledge…open to new ideas, and manages based on individual needs, very motivating.”
The award was presented by the Council’s Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Committee (PRPSC), which recognizes county police and fire department personnel who go above and beyond the call of duty. Haweo, for which this award is named, means to glow or to be radiant. Detective Simeona was presented with a lei and a certificate signed by each Councilmember at the ceremony.