HPD Kona police join residents in Old Airport Beach cleanup

Fifteen volunteers joined Hawaii Police Department officers, Hawaii Police Activities League participants and Miss Aloha Hawaii 2025 Scarlette Burnham-Rosario for a Scavenger Hunt Beach Cleanup at Old Airport Recreation Area in Kailua-Kona. The small turnout was still a visible show of force in a different sense, with police and residents working side by side on one of Kona’s busiest shoreline spaces.

HPD’s Kona Community Policing Section promoted the cleanup for Saturday, May 16, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Old Kona Airport Beach Park, also known locally as Old Airport Recreation Area. County records place the park at 75-5500 Kuakini Highway in Kailua-Kona, inside a larger Kailua Park complex that also includes Kekuaokalani Gymnasium, the Kona Community Aquatic Center and Nākamalei Playground.

That setting matters. Old Kona Airport Beach Park is not a secluded stretch of sand but a heavily used public recreation area where litter, traffic and wear can quickly become visible problems. The cleanup also carried added environmental weight because the offshore Old Kona Airport Marine Life Conservation District spans 217 acres and was established in 1992, underscoring how shoreline care and marine protection connect at the site.

The park’s past gives the effort another layer of meaning. What is now a community beach and family gathering place once served as an airport and landing strip, a reminder that the shoreline has been reshaped over time by public use. A cleanup there is more than a tidy-up after a weekend crowd; it is a statement that the space now belongs to residents who use it and help maintain it.

HPD’s involvement with HI-PAL also broadened the reach of the event. The department says the Hawaii Police Activities League was established on Hawaii Island in 1980 and serves youth ages 5 to 17 through social and athletic activities. In that context, the cleanup became part public service, part youth outreach and part community visibility, with officers showing up in a setting that was cooperative rather than confrontational.

The Kona Community Policing Section has also been tied to another beach cleanup effort at Kalaepaakai Beach in Kailua-Kona, suggesting the Old Airport event was part of a continuing pattern rather than a one-time photo opportunity. In a county where police relationships are often judged by enforcement encounters, the measure here was simpler and more concrete: 15 volunteers, one shoreline and a shared task that left Old Kona Airport Beach Park cleaner and HPD more present in everyday community life.