The Kona Crime Prevention Committee named its “2022 Police Officer of The Year” on Thursday, August 25th. This year, the honor went to Officer Justin Gaspar, who was named Officer of the Month for March 2022.
On November 1, 2021, Officer Gaspar, of the Area II Vice Section, initiated a narcotic investigation starting with a vehicle interdiction that turned into a significant narcotic investigation. By developing and exploiting informants and cooperating defendants, working closely with his peers, internal experts, and external agencies, Officer Gaspar was able to dismantle a local drug distribution organization, which was supplied by a Mexican Cartel. In the course of his investigation, Officer Gaspar drafted over nine search warrants, which recovered 5 pounds of Methamphetamine, over 7,000 Fentanyl pills and one kilogram of pure powdered Fentanyl, all with a street value of over $1,000,000.
Officer Gaspar’s investigation identified a Big Island drug trafficking organization and stopped a large amount of narcotics from entering our island home. The investigation resulted in the arrest of one of the main suppliers of narcotics to our island and cut off multiple other narcotic distributors. In addition, through this investigation, Officer Gaspar was able to work with the Juvenile Aid Section to assist in identifying a suspect in a juvenile death.
A 12-year veteran of the department, Officer Gaspar is also a K9 handler, and works with narcotics canine Boyke. Dedicated to the recovery of narcotics and the betterment of the Big Island community, Officer Gaspar strives to ensure the Big Island is a safe place to live, visit, and conduct business.
Also honored at the recognition ceremony were the 2020 Officer of the Year, Wyatt Nahale, and the 2021 Officer of the Year, Elijah Won. While both of these officers did previously receive their awards, neither received proper recognition due to the pandemic.
Every month the Kona Crime Prevention Committee honors a police officer in west Hawai‘i as their Officer of the Month. Officers are nominated by their supervisors from the various police districts and a winner is selected by the KCPC board of directors. All officers selected for Officer of the Month are eligible to be selected as the Kona Crime Prevention Committee’s Officer of the Year.