Hawaiʻi Police Launch Monthly Talk Story Sessions Starting Feb. 17 in Waimea

Chief Reed Mahuna will lead the inaugural Talk Story with the Chief session at the Waimea Civic Center Conference Room, 67-5189 Kamamalu Street in Waimea, from 1 to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, giving residents a one-hour chance to meet police leadership in an informal setting. The Hawaiʻi Police Department lists the event as the first in a monthly series that will rotate around Hawaiʻi Island.

“Community engagement is a cornerstone of effective policing, and I am committed to increasing our department’s outreach efforts,” Mahuna said in a news release. “These talk story sessions are an opportunity for us to listen, learn, and build stronger relationships with the people we serve. We want residents to feel comfortable sharing their concerns and ideas, because public safety is strongest when it is built on trust, communication, and partnership.”

The department’s event notice and reporting from Big Island Video News state the sessions are designed to let residents meet directly with Chief Mahuna and district commanders to share concerns, ask questions, and discuss public safety issues in an open, conversational setting. National Today notes the meetings are monthly and that future meeting dates and locations will be announced as they are scheduled, while the Hawaiʻi Police Department page confirms the first session details and the rotating-cadence plan.

The Talk Story launch arrives alongside a string of HPD community outreach entries on the department’s website, which lists multiple Coffee With A Cop events and a youth baseball partnership. The Hawaiʻi Police Department page invites the public to the fourth annual HI‑PAL Tee Ball/Coach Pitch Baseball Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 24, and Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Hualani Baseball Park, 150 Baker Avenue in the Keaukaha area of Hilo, hosted in conjunction with the Mynah Byrdz Baseball Club. The HPD site also lists a Kapaʻau Coffee With a Cop at Pomaika‘i Café, 54-3885 Akoni Pule Highway in Kapaʻau from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and a Kona Coffee With a Cop at Kona Mountain Coffee Co., 73-4038 Hulikoa Drive in Kailua‑Kona from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Big Island Video News reported that the Hawaiʻi County Police Commission recently voted to appoint Mahuna as chief and described him as a nearly 28-year veteran of the Hawaiʻi Police Department, succeeding former Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz. The department’s public materials also include a headline section titled Unsolved Homicides with the line, “Hawaiʻi Police Department believes every victim deserves justice, and that the deceased victim’s family, friends, and community deserve closure,” underscoring the department’s stated dual focus on outreach and investigative accountability.

For Waimea residents, the session will be held in a Civic Center meeting room that has hosted civic forums and community gatherings; event notices published by HPD and coverage by local outlets say Mahuna and district commanders will be in attendance. The department has said it will announce additional Talk Story dates as they are scheduled, and the February session is being offered as the first opportunity to raise local public safety concerns directly with HPD leadership.