Safety & Security

Safe Neighborhoods. Strong Communities.

When residents feel secure, families thrive, businesses grow, and neighborhoods prosper. Tommy Waters recognizes that public safety extends beyond emergency response; it includes well-maintained parks, safe streets, reliable infrastructure, and effective city services. Our government must be responsive and accountable to the Community’s needs.

As your City Councilmember, Tommy supported investments in public safety, emergency management, road maintenance, flood mitigation, and community services that strengthen neighborhoods to improve our quality of life. His proactive approach emphasizes resolving issues before they become crises and ensuring our city government remains responsive, accountable, and prepared.

Strong communities begin with safe neighborhoods. Tommy is dedicated to creating places where families can live, work, and thrive with confidence, ensuring all residents feel safe in their homes by delivering practical neighborhood results:

✓ Most funding for public safety in the history of the city

✓ Public safety initiatives at East Honolulu lookouts

✓ Better rules for street festivals and parades in Waikīkī

✓ Support for Kūhiō Beach Park revitalization

✓ Queen’s Beach Promenade restoration

✓ Pedestrian signal in Kapahulu at Campbell

✓ Speed mitigation at Diamond Head Road and Makalei Place

✓ A new play area at Nehu Neighborhood Park

While serving as your City Councilmember and Chair, Tommy led significant initiatives to enhance community safety and resilience through emergency management operations. This included establishing a standalone Department of Emergency Management with civil service standards, creating an Ocean Safety Commission to oversee ocean safety measures, and restructuring to form a standalone Department of Ocean Safety.

The City Council enacted measures to fulfill our kuleana — the responsibility to keep our communities safe — by:

Fully funding public safety budgets, including an additional $1 million for the understaffed Patrol Division of the Honolulu Police Department (HPD).
Allocating over $2.5 million for HPD headquarters.
Providing $2 million for stations and facilities and nearly $4 million for equipment.
Obtaining a City audit of HPD's overtime policies which further led to operational upgrades, technological implementation, and streamlined processes for better use of taxpayer dollars.
Established a gambling room task force to identify and develop solutions to combat illegal game rooms in our city.

Tommy also introduced a number of legislative amendments to improve HPD's effectiveness, collaboration, transparency, accountability for misconduct, and public trust, and support for first responders with appropriate tools to assist those suffering from dementia. Tommy remains committed to securing essential funding to reduce staffing vacancies at the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) while continuing to propose measures to enhance accountability in law enforcement.