Hawaii Police Department promotes four leaders, reshuffles East and West Hawaii command

A West Hawaii command change and a new islandwide support chief are the biggest practical effects of Hawaii Police Department’s four promotions, which took effect May 1. Rio Amon-Wilkins, a 27-year veteran, was elevated from captain to assistant chief and now commands Area II Operations, the stretch from North Kohala to Kaū. Thomas Shopay III moved from major to assistant chief and now leads the Administrative Services Bureau, which oversees the Special Response Team, Administrative Services Division and Technical Services Division.

The reshuffle matters because those posts help set how HPD deploys patrols, staffs investigations and moves specialty resources across Hawaii Island. Shopay’s bureau handles the systems and units that keep officers in the field connected and supported, while Area II Operations sets priorities for West Hawaii communities from Kona to South Kohala and beyond.

Roylen Valera, a 29-year veteran, was promoted from captain to major and assigned to Area II Operations after most recently serving as captain of South Kohala District. Jeremy Scott Lewis was promoted to captain after more than 23 years with HPD, a career that has included assignments in North Kohala, Kona, Area II Vice, Kona Patrol and the Special Response Team. Lewis graduated from the FBI National Academy on March 15, 2024, and HPD has said he is one of only 10 current graduates from that program serving in ranks from lieutenant to chief.

Police Chief Reed Mahuna said the promotions reflect “kuleana” and “mālama” in the way officers serve the community. Mahuna was selected as Hawaii County police chief on Jan. 30, sworn in on Feb. 20 and is the department’s 13th chief. He had served as interim chief since Sept. 1, 2025, after Benjamin Moszkowicz retired.

The new assignments also concentrate a deep bench of institutional memory in the department’s top ranks. Shopay was promoted to major in April 2023 after serving as captain in Area II Criminal Investigation Division, and earlier worked in Kona Patrol, Area II vice and the Special Response Team. He also received HPD’s Silver Medal of Valor in 2012 for barricading explosive ordinance found near an electric plant. Amon-Wilkins received the County Council Haweo Award for Outstanding Leadership in November 2022 and was later described as overseeing 36 employees in Area I CID, including juvenile aid, vice, criminal investigation and the crime lab. Valera was promoted to captain in June 2024 and assigned to South Kohala District after previous work in Hāmākua, juvenile aid, area investigations, Kona community policing and school resource officer posts.

Mahuna’s personnel changes are part of a broader transition at HPD, including the March selection of Assistant Chief Sherry Bird as deputy chief, a post that would be the first held by a woman in the department’s 83-year history if confirmed.