HUMAN TRAFFICKING WATCH · DISPATCH
Two Raids, No Arrests on Oahu
HPD targets brothels while redirecting attention to victim services and data gaps.
Across Aiea and Pearl City, HPD’s vice and human trafficking teams shut down two suspected brothels, seized $21,605, and made no arrests, offering services to workers while building cases against exploiters as community pressure and data gaps mount.
On Monday and again on Wednesday, Honolulu police moved on two suspected brothels in Central Oahu, one inside a residential pocket of Aiea on Pakalana Street and another along Kamehameha Highway in Pearl City, executing search warrants that seized a combined $21,605 in cash and assorted evidence while making no arrests, a posture consistent with the department’s practice of treating the on-site workers as victims and referring them to services as investigators look up the ladder at organizers and profiteers (Hawaii News Now, n.d.; Boylan, n.d.).
The Monday warrant in Aiea, carried out by the Narcotics/Vice Division working with the Human Trafficking Unit, ended with officers locating multiple sex workers in a home on Pakalana Street, offering each counseling and support resources at the scene and later, and removing $17,777 in U.S. currency along with materials that detectives said substantiated prostitution-related offenses, with Major Jerome Pacarro, commander of the division, directing the operation and ensuring all items were promptly logged for evidentiary processing as the case file took shape for further review (Boylan, n.d.; Hawaii News Now, n.d.).
Two days later, officers entered a relaxation center inside the Pearl City Business Plaza off Kamehameha Highway, where they found two sex workers who were not arrested and were routed to counseling and victim services, while $3,828 in cash and corroborating records were seized and inventoried, an approach that mirrors the department’s stated strategy of building cases against the organizers rather than criminalizing those exploited on site (Hawaii News Now, n.d.; Boylan, n.d.).
Interim Chief Rade Vanic, emphasizing a victim-centered posture that now guides field decisions, said the department remained committed to identifying people being trafficked, connecting them with support, and pursuing the individuals responsible for their exploitation, a statement that aligns with the choice to make no arrests of workers during the Aiea and Pearl City actions and to defer immediate charging decisions while evidence is analyzed and investigative leads are developed across units (Hawaii News Now, n.d.).
The broader enforcement picture has been uneven: Honolulu recorded seven prostitution arrests so far this year, compared with 11 in 2025, 10 in 2024, and none in 2023, while, between 2020 and 2024, only three statewide arrests for sex trafficking were logged and none resulted in conviction; at the same time, the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Abatement Section reported 10 arrests and seven convictions from 2022 through 2025 tied to the commercial sexual exploitation of a minor, figures that underscore both the difficulty of adult-trafficking prosecutions and the distinct statutory track for cases involving children, with Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm noted among the officials referenced in reporting on the current Oahu operations (Boylan, n.d.).
Pressure from residents also framed the Pearl City warrant, as Neighborhood Board chair Larry Veray pointed to approximately 153 police reports taken near Kamehameha Highway and Waimano Home Road from January through May, a cluster of calls that, while not all tied to the plaza location, documented persistent public-order concerns near the corridor and added urgency to the vice unit’s methodical, document-first cadence (Hawaii News Now, n.d.).
Advocates have warned that the visible storefronts and quiet residential setups are the tip of a larger market, with the Imua Alliance estimating roughly 150 high-risk operations statewide and between 1,500 and 2,500 victims each year, estimates presented by service providers that help explain why HPD’s Human Trafficking Unit routed the individuals encountered this week to counseling and support rather than jail, a decision consistent with an investigative strategy aimed at organizers and profiteers while immediate assistance is extended to those exploited (Hawaii News Now, n.d.).
Across both sites, detectives documented currency totals—$17,777 in Aiea and $3,828 in Pearl City—secured digital and paper records, and placed all items into evidence, steps that, according to investigators, precede interviews, financial analysis, and coordination with prosecutors where warranted, while publicly, the department has confirmed only that no arrests were made at either scene and the inquiries remain live, a posture intended to protect victims and preserve the integrity of future charging decisions (Boylan, n.d.; Hawaii News Now, n.d.).
Officials and service partners also acknowledged a structural barrier: there is no unified data system for trafficking across Hawaii’s agencies, with Child Welfare Services relying on spreadsheets, nonprofits like Susannah Wesley Community Center and Hale Kipa using Apricot, and law enforcement operating on separate platforms, a fragmentation that complicates case tracking, cross-referencing, and performance measurement when investigations stretch over months and span jurisdictions (Boylan, n.d.).
If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733, and call 911 if there is immediate danger; the Aiea and Pearl City investigations remain active as detectives work to identify and disrupt those profiting from exploitation (Hawaii News Now, n.d.; Boylan, n.d.).
Locations: Pakalana Street, Kamehameha Highway, Aiea, Pearl City, Oahu, Pearl City, Milwaukee Soldiers Home veteran housing complex, Hawaii
Tags: investigation, local, state, frontline