Hawaiʻi’s new Department of Law Enforcement has over $90,000 to hire investigators focused on agricultural crimes. And it can look to long-established models in California and Florida for effective methods to fight a range of such crimes, from cattle rustling to theft of heavy equipment.

What’s lacking? A timeline for hiring them, the agencyʻs director Jordan Lowe acknowledged in a recent interview.

The absence of a firm schedule is at odds with the sense of political and community urgency that has grown since the shooting death of Oʻahu rancher Cranston Pia in February during a confrontation with hunters allegedly trespassing on his Mākaha property.

The stateʻs agricultural producers were galvanized by the killing, calling for tougher criminal penalties and new legislation to combat rural violence during impassioned appearances at the Legislature. 

Hawaiʻi’s Attorney General Anne Lopez said earlier this year that the Department of Law Enforcement, which launched in January, would be integral to the overall response to the issue.   

DLE deputy director Jared Redulla even referenced the Pia case at the Hawaiʻi Cattleman’s Council convention last month saying, “Every time we have weapons, trespassing, rural communities, and people like farmers and ranchers defending their property, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Lowe agrees Piaʻs death “brought to the forefront a problem that had always existed, and it’s time for us, as the state law enforcement agency, to address that with agricultural crimes on every island.”

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However there is “always a process” that has to be followed for a new project, Lowe said, and there is no date for when the agricultural crimes unit would be up and running. The project requires the approval of the governor’s office and the Department of Budget and Finance, then hiring for the positions. 

But Lowe said getting nearly $100,000 in federal funding was the hardest part. 

The U.S. Department of Justice said the grant was to assist the DLE “provide ranchers and farmers with a dedicated resource” and help “reduce, prevent, and investigate violent crime that is linked to agricultural crime.” 

A major part of the new program will be to compile current data on agricultural crime. Currently, the best crime statistics are 5 years old.

Thus far, the DLE has determined that two new investigators would likely start out on the Big Island, “to try to make an assessment, and also investigate any crimes that occur,” Lowe said.

Until those positions are filled, fighting agricultural crime is left to county departments who donʻt receive any specialized training, Civil Beat has found.

The DLE also doesn’t include any units on agricultural crime in its training curriculum for new recruits, but there is discussion about doing so, Lowe said.

Producers Remain Reluctant To Report

Even a single investigator devoted to agricultural crime in Hawaiʻi would be a rarity, with only a dozen agricultural crime units in the country, according to a 2020 thesis study from East Tennessee State University. 

Nationwide, as in Hawaiʻi, agricultural crimes are underreported, less likely to be prosecuted and yet represent major losses for producers and a serious threat to food security, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Those crimes are also less likely to be taken seriously by law enforcement — despite national losses estimated at $5 billion annually through the theft of crops, livestock, pesticides and chemicals and heavy machinery.

Farmers and ranchers can also be reluctant, citing fear of retribution and a sense that nothing would come from reporting it, among other issues.

Limited local data bears that out. A 2019 survey of Hawaiʻi producers found that only 990 of a total of nearly 19,000 incidents of theft, vandalism and trespass that occurred were reported. They resulted in 79 arrests and 66 convictions.

Lowe acknowledged that underreporting remains an issue. In addition to plans for community and industry outreach, the DLE has established a tip line. “We’re going to do more with reporting apps,” Lowe said. “Because what we want to do is enable people to provide us with information anonymously.” 

DLE spokesman Brooks Baehr said Monday the agency had only received two tips since it was soft launched in October. Baehr said the department hasn’t yet promoted it outside of the agricultural community.  

The Honolulu Police Deptartment provided reports of agricultural theft based on Hawaiʻi Statute 708-835.55 — theft of agricultural property — for 2023 and up to mid-August 2024. 

While the numbers are relatively low, they do reinforce the perception that offenses are on the rise, particularly in the agricultural areas of Central Oʻahu and the North Shore. 

Maui police spokesperson Alana Pico said a review of records showed no arrests related to agricultural crime for the same period. 

Hawaiʻi police did not respond to a request for comment.

What Would More Specialized Enforcement Look Like?

The DLE director said there was no need to “reinvent the wheel” as Hawaiʻi considers ramping up coordination of agricultural crime enforcement. 

The California Rural Crime Prevention Task Force has been operating for over 25 years. 

The task force is a coalition of government, law enforcement and agricultural agencies and major producers in the stateʻs Central Valley, which produces nearly 15% of the agriculture products in the United States. 

The California task force advises producers on security systems including GPS technology and cameras and the use of equipment identification numbers unique to the owner. They also train local law enforcement on issues ranging from agro-terrorism to cargo theft and how to detect homemade explosives.

One lesson learned, said task force director Chad Parker, is that offenses viewed as relatively “minor” or a nuisance are often indicators of more serious criminal activity. 

Offenders will often test a farm’s security by trespassing, he said. “They might go and steal something very small. They might take a four-wheeler, they might take some brass, they'll go and steal some gasoline out of the tanks. And they wait and see if the rancher or farmer responds.”

Parker said those offenders in many instances are part of wider criminal networks engaged in crimes on a much larger scale. In California, those can extend into Canada and Mexico. 

A recent spate of four-wheeler thefts from Central Valley counties ended up being linked to a major operation in Mexico, he said.

While the situation on Hawaiʻi is different, Parker said it's still important for agencies to build strong networks for intelligence gathering and information sharing. 

Lowe said the DLE has multiple officers working on various federal task forces, but they're currently dealing with illegal fireworks and drugs.

Patrol District 8 on Oʻahu, where Pia was killed, had the highest number of reported agricultural thefts on the island in 2023. It also had the most staff vacancies of any HPD district as of June 2024.

So increasingly, short-staffed departments need to adopt new technology to promote more efficient enforcement, Lowe said. 

“That is probably the future of law enforcement,” he said. 

The Honolulu Police Department has earmarked $100,000 in its current budget to buy drones, security cameras and other tools to fight agriculture-related crime, HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said.

But even low-tech and slow tech with lower price tags can make a difference. 

In March, Big Island police bought technology that was pioneered in ancient Egypt: three portable scales that can measure up to 500 pounds of produce.