Hilo police league motocross event gives keiki a summer ride
About 18 Hilo keiki, ages 7 to 17, rode in a HI-PAL motocross event, part of a police youth program on Hawaii Island since 1980.
About 18 Hilo keiki, ages 7 to 17, took part in a HI-PAL motocross event that put the Hawaii Police Department in the role of youth organizer as much as law enforcement. The outing added another supervised summer activity for families in Hilo and showed how the island’s police activities league still leans on sports to reach young people.
The Hawaii Police Department says the Hawaii Isle Police Activities League was established on island in 1980 and serves youth from ages 5 to 17 with social and athletic activities. Motocross is part of that lineup, alongside sports such as boxing and basketball, giving the program a reach that goes beyond one event or one age group.
The department’s Hilo Community Policing Section and HI-PAL thanked participants after the motocross outing, underscoring the public-facing role officers played at the event. Department photos labeled the gathering as the Keiki Enjoy Hilo HI-PAL Motocross Event, a name that matches the emphasis on hands-on participation rather than a spectator program.
The turnout was small enough to stay personal, with roughly 18 youth on the track. That kind of number matters for a program built around mentorship, because it allows coaches, volunteers and officers to spend more time with each child and keep the focus on instruction, safety and confidence-building instead of just moving a crowd through an activity.
HI-PAL’s presence in Hilo is not new. The department’s archive includes a 2024 Hilo keiki HI-PAL event, showing that youth outreach in the city has been repeated rather than occasional. The department has also used HI-PAL for creative, team-based events aimed at building trust with the community, which places the motocross day inside a broader strategy of connecting with children before they ever encounter police in a crisis.
For Hilo parents looking for structured options during summer break, that pattern is the point. Boxing, basketball and motocross are not the same thing, but together they give Hawaii Island families a police-run program that keeps returning with organized activities for keiki, from the youngest participants to teenagers.
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