The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaii recently honored Officer Jared Cabatu as the East Hawaii Officer of the Month for October.
The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaii recently honored Officer Jared Cabatu as the East Hawaii Officer of the Month for October.
Cabatu was honored for solving two auto theft cases involving stolen Hawaii County-owned vehicles.
On Aug. 17, shortly after midnight, Cabatu made a traffic stop on a man driving a van on Hoaka Road.
The vehicle had expired weight tax and other expired tags, along with a current safety sticker registered not to the van but to a Jeep Cherokee that was stolen from the county.
Using his knowledge of the area, Cabatu checked the driveway of a nearby house, where he had seen the van previously parked.
There he observed a second Jeep Cherokee that was stolen from the county. Subsequent police investigation tied both Jeep thefts to a man who already was in police custody for a different vehicle-theft case.
Lt. Alan Kimura attributed the recovery of both stolen county vehicles to Cabatu’s investigative skills.
As Officer of the Month, Cabatu is eligible for Officer of the Year.
The East Hawaii Officer of the Month award is a project of the Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaii.