Search Honolulu Bench Warrants
Honolulu County covers the whole island of Oahu and holds more bench warrants than any other county in the state. Judges in the First Circuit sign these warrants, and the Honolulu Police Department books them into the local warrant file. You can start your search for Honolulu bench warrants with eCourt Kokua, the statewide court records portal, then call the HPD records line to confirm a hit. This page lays out each step so you can look up Honolulu bench warrants with less guesswork.
Honolulu County Bench Warrants Overview
Where Honolulu Bench Warrants Are Kept
Honolulu bench warrants live in two places. The paper file sits at the First Circuit clerk's office in the Ronald T.Y. Moon Judiciary Complex at 777 Punchbowl Street in Honolulu. The digital file lives in the state's Judiciary Information Management System. From there, the record flows to the public side of eCourt Kokua and to the locked police side called the eBench Warrant system. The public can read case dockets, hearing dates, and warrant status on the free portal. Police use the locked side to read full warrant text and to serve the paper.
The Honolulu Police Department keeps its own copy too. The HPD Records and Identification Division Warrants Unit is the team that assigns each warrant a number, enters it into the local and state databases, and sends it out to the right patrol district. You can reach that unit at (808) 723-3258. Staff there also verify warrants that come in from other counties or from federal sources.
Note: The eBench Warrant system is closed to the public and is only used by sworn police officers, sheriffs, and court staff who work warrant cases.
Honolulu Police Warrants Unit
The Honolulu Police Department is the main law enforcement body for Honolulu County bench warrants. HPD headquarters stands at 801 South Beretania Street in Honolulu. The main phone line is (808) 529-3111. HPD writes its own rules for how its officers handle bench warrants, and those rules are on the HPD Warrants Policy page. The policy breaks warrants into five groups that HPD officers deal with every day.
A First Circuit Court warrant comes out of an Oahu judge's courtroom. An Outside Assist warrant comes from a court on a neighbor island, such as the Second Circuit on Maui, the Third Circuit on Hawaii Island, or the Fifth Circuit on Kauai. An NCIC warrant is a national warrant that HPD checks through the federal crime database. An HIJIS warrant is the eBench warrant posted on the locked state site for police use. A Hawaii Paroling Authority warrant covers people who broke parole terms. Each kind of warrant has its own service rule, but the core job is the same: bring the person in front of the judge.
The image below comes from the HPD Warrants Policy page linked above.
The HPD policy sets the baseline rules for how officers handle any Honolulu bench warrant they run across in the field.
HPD policy also sets service time limits. Without a specific time stamp on the warrant, officers cannot serve it between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. on private premises that are closed to the public. A judge can write a note on the warrant that waives this rule when cause exists. Every served warrant needs a Return of Service. The return must list the report number and get scanned into the Case Report System. The defendant gets a copy too.
First Circuit Court in Honolulu
The First Circuit Court is the trial court that signs most Honolulu County bench warrants. It covers Oahu and a few small outlying islands. The main court house is the Ronald T.Y. Moon Judiciary Complex at 777 Punchbowl Street. District courts sit in Honolulu, Kaneohe, Wahiawa, Ewa, and Waianae. Family Court and traffic court are in the same complex. A judge in any of these courts can sign a bench warrant when a person skips a court date, fails to pay a fine, or breaks a court order.
Bench warrants in Honolulu follow Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure Rule 9. Rule 9 says the warrant must be signed by a judge, must name or describe the person, must list the offense, and must state the date and court of issue. The rule also sets a bail amount and bars service during night hours at closed premises. The law stays the same no matter which Oahu court signs the paper.
The broader state code that backs this up is Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 803. HRS § 803-1 is the base rule against arrest without a warrant. HRS § 803-39 lets a judge issue a bench warrant when a person breaks court terms. These state laws apply to Honolulu County just like they do to the other four counties.
Note: A Honolulu bench warrant stays active until police serve it or a judge recalls it, so old warrants can still lead to an arrest years later.
Honolulu Police District Stations
HPD splits Oahu into eight patrol districts. Each district has its own station. If you need to verify a Honolulu bench warrant, you can call the station that serves the area where the case came up. The right district can often confirm if officers are looking for a person on a bench warrant.
District 8 serves a large part of west Oahu. The area covers Ewa, Ewa Beach, Westloch, Barbers Point, Kapolei, Makakilo, Campbell Industrial Park, Honokai Hale, Koolina, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae, Makaha, Makua, and Kaena. The Kapolei Police Station sits at 1100 Kamokila Boulevard in Kapolei. Call it at (808) 723-8400. The Waianae Substation is at 85-939 Farrington Hwy., Waianae, HI 96792, phone (808) 723-8600. The District 8 Community Policing Team is at (808) 723-8411.
The shot below is from the HPD District 8 page.
District 8 is the best first call for any Honolulu bench warrants tied to a case that started in Kapolei, Waianae, or the Ewa Plain.
Here is a quick list of the main district station lines you may need when you look up a Honolulu bench warrant:
- Downtown (808) 723-3310
- Wahiawa (808) 723-8700
- Pearl City (808) 723-8800
- Kaneohe (808) 723-8640
- Kailua Substation (808) 723-8838
- Kahuku (808) 723-8650
- Waikiki (808) 723-8562
The HPD Central Receiving Division tracks adult and juvenile arrest info across all eight districts. Call that unit at (808) 723-3000 to ask if a person has been booked on a Honolulu bench warrant.
HPD Phone Directory for Bench Warrants
HPD keeps a full phone list on its site. The list is the fast way to find the right unit when you need to check a Honolulu bench warrant. The Records and Identification Division line at (808) 723-3258 is the core warrant phone. The Central Receiving line at (808) 723-3000 is the arrest log phone. Each district adds its own numbers for community policing teams and watch commanders.
The image below is from the HPD phone directory page.
The page is a one-stop list for every HPD line the public may need when asking about Honolulu bench warrants or any other police record.
Most people start with the Records and Identification Division. Staff there can confirm if a warrant is in the file and will tell you the case number. They will not always read the full warrant over the phone. For the full text, you must go to the court clerk at 777 Punchbowl Street or pull the docket on eCourt Kokua.
Honolulu Arrest Logs and Bench Warrants
HPD posts a daily arrest log online. The IT Division pulls the data from the Case Report System each day and sends it to the public web. You can read the current log at the HPD arrest logs page. A paper copy also sits at the Alapai Street security post in the HPD main lobby, open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The log shows name, age, charge or charges, and location of arrest. HPD rotates each entry out 14 days after it posts, so a search is best done soon after the arrest date. The state law that backs this public posting is HRS § 92F-21, which makes arrest log data open to any member of the public. Bench warrant arrests show up in this log too, tagged by the charge that led to the warrant.
The image below is from the HPD arrest logs page linked above.
Arrest logs are a quick free tool for spotting a recent bench warrant service in Honolulu County.
Note: The HPD arrest log rotates off the site after 14 days, so check back often if you want to track new Honolulu bench warrant arrests.
Honolulu Public Access Sites
The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, known as HCJDC, runs a list of public access sites where you can pull an adult criminal history record. Each printout costs $25. The HCJDC site at 465 South King Street, Room 102, Honolulu, HI 96813, is the main one in Honolulu County. The phone line is (808) 587-3279. A second access site sits inside HPD headquarters at 801 South Beretania Street, with a phone of (808) 529-3191. Both sites serve walk-in public users.
The shot below is from the HCJDC public access sites page.
The HCJDC printout is not a direct bench warrant search, but it shows past convictions that may tie into a warrant still on file.
An easier path for a quick online check is the eCrim portal. eCrim runs under HCJDC. A basic lookup costs $5. A full criminal history report costs $12. The tool times out after 30 minutes of no use, so be ready to finish in one sitting. Phone support is at (808) 587-3279. The site gives a fast read on adult conviction data that may point to an active Honolulu bench warrant tied to an old case.
Clearing a Honolulu Bench Warrant
If you find out that Honolulu has a bench warrant in your name, the safe move is to talk to a lawyer first. A private defense lawyer can file a motion to quash the warrant and set a new court date. The Office of the Public Defender helps people who cannot pay for a lawyer. You can also call the First Circuit clerk at 777 Punchbowl Street to ask how the judge wants the case handled.
Many Honolulu judges will agree to quash a bench warrant if the person shows up and posts the bail set on the warrant. The judge may also set new release terms. Walking in to an HPD station to ask about a warrant is a risk. Officers can arrest you on the spot if the warrant is valid. The safer path is to call HPD Records at (808) 723-3258 first, and to send a lawyer to the courthouse.
HPD can act on a warrant from any Oahu court at any hour, but most service still happens during the day. Night service on closed private property is barred by policy and by Rule 9, except when a judge writes an exception on the face of the warrant. This is one reason lawyers often tell clients to turn themselves in during the morning court call.
Cities in Honolulu County
Honolulu County is the City and County of Honolulu, so it covers the whole island. Most cases run through the First Circuit Court in downtown Honolulu, but each town has its own local feel and its own HPD station. Pick a city below for the local details that tie into Honolulu bench warrants.
Nearby Hawaii Counties
Honolulu sits at the center of the state. The other four counties each have their own courts and their own police records units. If a case crosses islands, you may need to check a warrant at a nearby county too.