The Sunshine Interview: SHOPO — 'We Want A Leader, Not A Boss'

We asked officials with the State of Hawaiʻi Organization of Police Officers to spend some time with our reporters and editors this week for an in-depth discussion on the many things SHOPO is concerned about.

We weren’t disappointed. In a wide-ranging session that lasted more than 90 minutes, three SHOPO leaders — Sgt. Jonathan Frye, Cpl. Nicholas Schlapak and Dustin DeRollo, a SHOPO consultant — spoke frankly and passionately about how the issues making daily headlines are affecting their members, the ability to do their jobs and their lives. More importantly, SHOPO has clearly put a lot of thought into how to at least begin to solve some of the problems playing out statewide but especially in Honolulu, the state’s largest police agency.

"In order to be fully transparent...as the top leader of the department, admit that your department has problems. And you have to reveal those problems to the public in a way so that you’re advocating for your department and you’re rallying your community to help fix those problems." Nick Schlapak

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