HONOLULU— An operation conceived and executed by the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) has been shutting down game rooms and keeping them closed since 2023.
Cpl. Alika Watson of District 5’s Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) noticed that game rooms often reopened shortly after being shut down because property owners were not being held accountable. To change that, he launched Operation Follow Through, a multiagency effort that aims to not only shut down game rooms and other illegal sites but to keep them closed permanently.
The program removes the financial incentive for property owners who allow illegal activity on their property. For example, when HPD executes a search warrant on a game room, partner agencies such as the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) and the Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) follow through by identifying code violations.
“Working together, we can accomplish what we couldn’t as a single agency,” Watson said. “We’re immensely grateful to our partner agencies. Without their enthusiasm and cooperation, none of this would happen.”
Operation Follow Through partners include:
- Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP)
- Honolulu Fire Department (HFD)
- Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney (DPA)
- Honolulu Department of the Corporation Counsel
- National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB)
- Hawai‘i Housing Finance & Development Corporation (HHFDC)
- Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (Insurance Division and Regulated Industries Complaints Office or RICO)
- Honolulu Liquor Commission
- Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
- State Department of the Attorney General
- State Department of Law Enforcement (DLE)
- Department of Budget and Fiscal Services (BFS)
- State of Hawai‘i Bureau of Conveyances
- Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO)
- Honolulu Board of Water Supply (BWS)
District 5, which covers Kalihi, has been the testing ground. Since 2023, the program has seen a 100 percent success rate, with nine closures in 2023, 16 closures in 2024 and 37 closures so far in 2025. None of these illegal operations have reopened.
With this success rate over several years, District 5 CRU and the Narcotics / Vice Division are working closely together to scale this program islandwide. Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s signing of Bills 11, 12 and 13 has further strengthened HPD’s ongoing efforts to crack down on and permanently close illegal game rooms.
For more information, visit the Honolulu Police Department’s Public Affairs Office at Media & Public Affairs – Honolulu Police Department