Hawaii County Bench Warrants Lookup
Hawaii County covers the Big Island, the biggest piece of land in the state, and the Third Circuit Court is where bench warrants come from here. The Hawaii Police Department holds the local warrant file and sends officers out to serve each paper. You can search Hawaii County bench warrants on eCourt Kokua, then call the East Hawaii or West Hawaii records section to confirm a hit. This page walks through the clerk offices, police lines, and online tools that touch Hawaii County bench warrants.
Hawaii County Bench Warrants Overview
Hawaii County Bench Warrants Search
Most Hawaii County bench warrants show up on eCourt Kokua first. The site is free to use and runs around the clock. You type the name, case number, or court, and the portal shows the docket, hearing dates, and current case status. If a PDF icon sits next to a docket line, you can buy the document for $3 for the first 30 pages and 10 cents for each added page. Warrant records on closed or juvenile cases do not show up on the public side.
The paper copy of each Hawaii County bench warrant sits at the Third Circuit clerk's office in Hale Kaulike at 777 Kilauea Avenue in Hilo. A second court site is at the Keahuolu Courthouse at 74-5451 Kamakaeha Avenue in Kailua-Kona. A smaller court sits in Waimea as well. Clerks at any of these sites can pull the paper file if eCourt Kokua is missing a page. Digital warrant data flows from the Judiciary Information Management System to the locked eBench Warrant system for police use.
Note: The Third Circuit Court splits its work between Hilo in East Hawaii and Kailua-Kona in West Hawaii, so check both court sites when you look up a warrant.
Hawaii Police Records and Warrants
The Hawaii Police Department is the main body that serves Hawaii County bench warrants. Headquarters is at 349 Kapiolani Street in Hilo. The Police Chief's Office phone is (808) 961-2244, and the mailbox is info@hawaiipolice.gov. You can read about the department on the Hawaii Police Department home page. The department covers the full Big Island, split into two regions for records work.
The image below is from the Hawaii Police Department home page linked above.
The site lists the main services, district boundaries, and news alerts that can help you start a Hawaii County bench warrants lookup.
East Hawaii Records is at (808) 961-2233. West Hawaii Records is at (808) 326-4646 extension 285. These two lines are the places to call when you want to confirm a bench warrant on a file that lives in Hilo or Kona. The Crime Stoppers island-wide line is (808) 961-8300, and the Arrested Adults Info line is (808) 961-2213. For non-emergency calls the main line is (808) 935-3311. In a true emergency call 911, which is TDD accessible.
East Hawaii Community Policing answers at (808) 961-2350. West Hawaii Community Policing is at (808) 326-4646 extension 259. The Vice and Drug Tip Hotline runs both sides of the island too: (808) 934-8423 for Hilo and (808) 329-0423 for Kona.
Hawaii County Contact Points
The department lists all of its contact lines on its Hawaii PD contact page. The page breaks phones out by unit and function. You can find the East Hawaii Records Section, West Hawaii Records Section, Community Policing Section, and Chief's Office lines in one place. It is the best single stop when you want to reach the right unit for a Hawaii County bench warrant question.
The image below is from the Hawaii Police Department contact page.
The page helps you skip the main switchboard and go straight to the right records desk for bench warrants on the Big Island.
Each district station keeps its own phone line and set hours. Here is a short list of lines you may need:
- Honokaa (808) 775-7533
- Laupahoehoe (808) 962-2120
- Pahoa (808) 966-5835
- Kau (808) 939-2520
- Kona (808) 326-4646 ext. 286
- Waimea (808) 887-3080
- Kapaau (808) 889-6540
Hilo Records Section is at (808) 961-2233, open 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. South Hilo District runs headquarters at the Public Safety Building on Kapiolani Street. That district is the largest by people, at 58.3 square miles, and the station sits next to the East Hawaii Detention Facility with space for 34 inmates. Substations in the district sit at Mooheau Bus Terminal, the Industrial Area, and Richardson's Beach Park, with 24-hour service.
Police Reports Tied to Hawaii Bench Warrants
When a Hawaii County bench warrant is served, the arrest and the warrant service both land in a police report. You can request that report from the Hawaii Police Department. The get a police report page walks you through the steps. Fees are $1 for the first page and 10 cents for each added page. Cash only. The standard response time is 10 business days. Redacted copies may black out personal details, like a date of birth or home address.
The shot below is from the get a police report page linked above.
Pick up the finished report at any district station on the island. The page is a useful next step after you spot a Hawaii bench warrant entry on eCourt Kokua.
Police reports do not always show the full warrant text. For the warrant itself, go to the Third Circuit clerk at Hale Kaulike in Hilo or the Keahuolu Courthouse in Kona. The clerk can pull the paper file. The report, though, is the best place to read the story behind the warrant, such as what a person did to set off the failure to appear that drove a judge to sign the paper.
Third Circuit Court on the Big Island
The Third Circuit Court is the trial court for Hawaii County. Judges here sign the bench warrants that HPD later serves. The main court is Hale Kaulike in Hilo. Keahuolu Courthouse in Kona is the west side court, with its own judges and clerks. A third site serves North Hawaii in Waimea. District courts sit in Hilo, Kona, Hamakua, Puna, Kau, and North and South Kohala, which means a judge from almost any part of the island can sign a bench warrant.
Bench warrants issued by Third Circuit judges follow the same rule as warrants from Oahu. Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure Rule 9 sets the form. The warrant must be signed by a judge, must name or describe the person, must list the offense, must state the date and court of issue, must set bail, and cannot be served at a closed home between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. unless a judge adds an exception. The core law is in Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 803, with HRS ยง 803-39 as the section on bench warrants tied to failure to appear.
The South Hilo District alone has held a heavy backlog of Hawaii County bench warrants for years. Stakeholders such as the Judiciary, the Prosecutor, the Public Defenders, private attorneys, and Hawaii PD have all weighed in on the queue. Past reports put the backlog above 1,200 unserved bench warrants in South Hilo at points in time. That high count drives the sweeps the Big Island police run each year.
Note: A Hawaii County bench warrant stays live until it is served or a Third Circuit judge recalls it, so an old Hilo or Kona warrant can still trigger an arrest today.
Hawaii County Warrant Sweeps
HPD on the Big Island runs joint warrant sweeps to cut the backlog. One high-profile sweep ran in November 2023. Police arrested 18 wanted people on 28 outstanding warrants in the Hilo and Puna districts. Of those, 14 were men and 4 were women. Charges behind the warrants included contempt of court, probation violation, probation no bail, failure to appear, and theft. The units in the field were the Community Policing Section, the Special Enforcement Unit, the Department of Public Safety Sheriff Division, and the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement.
The image below is from the Big Island warrant sweep press release.
The release is a good read if you want to see how fast a Hawaii County bench warrant can turn into an arrest once police decide to run a sweep.
Sweeps like this one in Hawaii County focus on older bench warrants that have sat on the books. The teams cross-check the eBench Warrant system, pull current addresses, and knock on doors. A person with an active Hawaii County bench warrant should treat each sweep as a sign that the warrant could be served any day.
Hawaii County Public Access Sites
The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center lists two public access sites on the Big Island. The first is at the Hawaii Police Department at 349 Kapiolani Street in Hilo, phone (808) 961-2233. The second is at the Kona Station at 74-5221 Queen Kaahumanu Highway, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, phone (808) 326-4646 extension 286. Each printout costs $25. The HCJDC public access sites page is the master list.
A quicker online check is the eCrim portal. A basic search there costs $5, and a full report is $12. The tool covers adult conviction data that may tie into a bench warrant still on file. Pending cases and arrests that did not end in conviction do not show up. Phone support for eCrim is at (808) 587-3279.
If you want the most complete read on a Hawaii County criminal history, a name check from HCJDC paired with a call to East Hawaii or West Hawaii Records is the best combo. The HCJDC criminal history page lays out the rules for each kind of check. The name check alone may not show a pending bench warrant, so the call to police records fills that gap.
Clearing a Hawaii County Bench Warrant
Do not ignore a Hawaii County bench warrant. The paper stays active until HPD serves it or a Third Circuit judge recalls it. A motion to quash is the main court tool. A private defense lawyer can file the motion for you. The Office of the Public Defender handles cases for people who cannot pay for a lawyer. A call to the Third Circuit clerk at Hale Kaulike can also help you learn the next step.
Many Big Island judges will agree to quash a bench warrant when the person shows up on their own, posts the bail set on the warrant, and signs a new release form. Turning yourself in during the morning court call is often safer than waiting to be found by a sweep team. Walking into an HPD station to ask about a warrant is a risk: officers can arrest on the spot. Most people call records first, or send a lawyer.
For cases tied to a driving charge, a traffic abstract may also be worth pulling. Traffic abstracts are not on eCourt Kokua and must be bought at a district courthouse in Hilo, Kona, Waimea, or another Hawaii County court site.
Cities in Hawaii County
Hilo is the main town on the Big Island and the site of the Third Circuit Court. Pick the city below to read the local page on Hawaii County bench warrants tied to cases from that area.
Other well-known spots on the Big Island include Kailua-Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa Village, Pahoa, Honokaa, Captain Cook, and Volcano. These towns do not have their own pages on this site, but each sits inside a Hawaii Police district station zone listed above.
Nearby Hawaii Counties
Hawaii County is the southernmost county in the state. The four other counties sit to the north. If a case runs across more than one island, you may need to check warrants at a nearby court too.