Kealakehe Police Station Phone Line Down, Residents Urged to Use Alternate Number

The main phone line at Kealakehe Police Station in West Hawaiʻi has stopped receiving incoming calls, the Hawaiʻi Police Department announced Wednesday, leaving residents unable to reach officers directly by dialing the station's published number, (808) 326-4646.

The outage is one-directional: while incoming calls to (808) 326-4646 are not being received, Kealakehe officers can still make outgoing calls from the station. Hawaiian Telcom has initiated a repair ticket and is scheduled to be on site Friday, March 13, to assess and address the problem.

Until the line is restored, anyone needing to reach personnel at Kealakehe is asked to call the Hawaiʻi Island police non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311, where messages will be forwarded to the appropriate officer. As always, emergencies require a call to 911.

"The Hawaiʻi Police Department thanks the public for its patience while this issue is being resolved," the department said in its public notice posted March 11, 2026.

The timeline of this outage carries some ambiguity. Hawaii News Now reported that the Hawaiʻi Island Police Department first warned the public about the problem on Thursday, July 24, and that the line had not been restored at the time of that report, which carries a 2025 copyright date. The HPD advisory posted this week is dated March 11, 2026, and references the scheduled Friday repair visit. The sources do not clarify whether the current outage is a continuation of the July 24 problem, a recurrence, or a separate incident altogether.

Anyone with information on unsolved cases in the meantime can contact HPD's Unsolved Homicides Division at (808) 961-2380 or Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300. The department's headquarters is located at 349 Kapiʻolani Street in Hilo.