Molokai Boy at HPD Makes His Island Proud

Puna Patrol Officer Dallas Arce, left, and HPD Police Chief Reed Mahuna. Contributed photo

By Léo Azambuja

A Molokai boy who moved to the Big Island to become a police officer received a prestigious recognition at a ceremony last week for his outstanding service to Hawaii County in 2025.

The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaii recognized Hawaii Police Department’s Puna Patrol Officer Dallas Arce as the 2025 Officer of the Year. He was honored for his “exemplary initiative, leadership and notable investigative skills demonstrated throughout the year,” officials said during the award ceremony in Hilo March 7. 

“I just hope I made my island and my family proud,” said Arce, who in 2025 alone, had received the Officer of the Month award three times. 

HPD Chief Reed Mahuna commended the 27-year-old Arce for taking ownership of his cases from start to finish, and approaching every call for service with professionalism, determination and a strong commitment to protecting Big Island’s community.

“Officer Arce consistently demonstrates initiative and leadership, whether he is mentoring newer officers or pursuing complex investigations,” Mahuna said at the ceremony.

The recipient of the Officer of the Year award is chosen by HPD chief, the deputy chief and several upper-rank officers, according to Arce. 

A five-year veteran of HPD, Arce said he got into the run for 2025 Officer of the Year after receiving the Officer of the Month award in March 2025. Then he received the Officer of the Month award two additional times throughout the year. 

The first award was in March for conducting an investigation that led to the arrest of a woman charged with 39 offenses, including 31 Class C felonies and eight petty misdemeanors. 

In September, Arce was honored for two investigations. One was for a domestic incident in which an intoxicated man was arrested for stealing his father’s car and a large quantity of drugs was seized. The other was for an investigation on a home burglary, in which Arce arrested the suspect and recovered all the stolen money and jewelry.

Then in December, Arce was honored for three investigations. He caught Puna’s most wanted person, who had been on a run for more than a year. He arrested a suspect of breaking into someone’s car and stealing their barber tools. And he also responded to a domestic incident that could have gone very wrong. An intoxicated man threatened to shoot his wife and her mother, and barricaded himself at home with his young child. 

“I was able to call him, talk to him, calm him down, get him outside of his house, remove him away from the firearm,” Arce said, adding the man came outside and was halfway through a long driveway, and then shifted his mood and got angry. “He tried to run back into the house. So, I ran after him and grabbed him before he got back into the house and arrested him.”

Arce said he became a cop by accident — he actually wanted to be a firefighter. In November 2019, he applied for both the fire and police departments. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, the fire department cancelled their test, while the police department still held theirs. 

Arce saw it as a “win-win situation.” He could try out for the police department and get acquainted with the testing’s environment and process, he said, as a way of preparing for a future fire department test. Or if he passed the police’s test, he could see how far he would go as an officer. 

“Well, I ended up passing. Here I am, five-and-a-half years later,” Arce said.

He wanted to work on the Big Island rather than on Molokai, he said, because he knows too many people where he grew up, and it could interfere with his job. 

Arce said the best part of his job is working with the new friends he made at HPD and “adding a small part into making the community better.” But moving away from Molokai, where most of his family lives, isn’t easy.

“I missed out on birthdays and events, family events, Christmases, Thanksgivings,” Arce said. “I miss my family the most, hanging out with my friends and just being back at home.”

To him, the most difficult aspect of being a cop is that regardless of what the police does, there is always someone with a negative take on them. On countless occasions, he said, he has seen the police work alongside the fire department, but those who get acknowledged and thanked are always the firefighters. 

“It doesn’t really bother me, but that’s why I work so hard. So, hopefully someday people can change how they look at police,” Arce said.

At the awards ceremony in Hilo, Big Island Mayor Kimo Alameda thanked Arce and Hawaii Fire Department Battalion Chief Kaʻaina Keawe — who was honored as HFD Officer of Year — for their “remarkable service” to Big Island.

“We are deeply grateful for their commitment to the safety of our residents and the wellbeing of their colleagues,” Alameda said.