Hawaii County Police Detective Carrie Akina was recently honored with the Hāweo Award for her exceptional work in a custodial interference case. 

The case involved a mother unlawfully taking her child out of state, violating a court order. 

Detective Akina coordinated with multiple agencies—including the FBI and Arizona authorities—and successfully used Arizona’s new Turquoise Alert system to locate and recover the child. The mother was arrested and extradited to Hawai‘i.

This marked the first successful use of the Turquoise Alert system and drew national and international attention.