Honolulu Cop: Reflections on a Career With Hpd

by Gary A. Dias

It's "the toughest, direst, most satisfying job in town," and in Honolulu Reflections on a Career with HPD, retired major Gary A. Dias takes us with him as he learns the ropes and moves from assignment to assignment, encountering crooks, resourceful prostitutes, deadly snipers, ornery dogs, and even a few ghosts. With self-deprecating humor and a judicious assessment of strength and weakness of those on both sides of the law, Dias provides an inside look at the evolution of law enforcement since the 1970s.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2002

Reviews

[Gail Baugniet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Gary A. Dias, along with Honolulu Homicide and Honolulu CSI, make up a trilogy of good reading for a long Hawaii winter. ;)

Along with the drama and comedy presented in his eclectic stories, there lurks a bit of the supernatural that always seems to pop up in stories of Hawai'i. (For more on that subject, you might want to check out Glenn Grant's Obake Files.)

[Spike Gomes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this because I wanted to read more local writers, my brother-in-law is a cop, and I work in a semi-related field (I'm joking, I'm a security guard).

The book is pretty much what it says on the cover, the reflections of a retired Honolulu Police Officer. It's pretty interesting to see how police work in Hawaii and in general has changed over the years, and I certainly learned quite a bit about the basics of criminology and forensics, which makes me want to pick up a couple of textbooks on the subject.

On the other hand, Dias... well, he's not a great writer, stylistically. It's not that they're bad stories or uninformative... it's just... he writes like someone who has mostly read and wrote police incident reports and criminology and forensic textbooks for decades. He could have really used a collaborator to get him to transmit the sort of wry laconic local-boy wit I'm pretty sure makes his stories "pop" in an oral setting to a written one.

That said, I'm going to be reading his other books because there's not much "True Crime" writing here in Hawaii, and content-wise, you probably can't get much closer to the horse's mouth than by being the guy that investigated a lot of them as they happened.

Three out of five stars.

[C.L. Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good memoir about his career with Honolulu Police Department. An easy and enjoyable read mixed with serious tones and humorous moments, I enjoyed getting a closer look at his experience between 1971 and 1997. Good read.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty funny and interesting POV from a former cop sent to patrol the 50th state.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir of Mr Dias' time on the Honolulu PD. It is filled with many anecdotes (war stories) and makes for a great look at how things have changed. 70's policing was quite different than now. I enjoyed reading bits during my lunch hours at work so the time it took to finish is not a reflection on the book.