Citations and citation books shall be controlled and issued as outlined herein.
DEFINITIONS
A. MultiCharge Traffic Citation (MCTC):
A descriptive reference for citations issued
for a single traffic offense or multiple traffic
offenses of the same case type. The multicharge
reference includes the Citation for Traffic Crime(s)
Arrest (CTCA), Notice of Traffic Infraction(s)(NTI),
and Notice of Parking Infraction(s)(NPI).
B. CTCA: The citation issued for one or more
traffic crimes. A CTCA shall be issued when
statutorily required. When statutorily permitted,
a CTCA may be issued in place of a physical arrest.
A CTCA shall not be issued for a traffic infraction
(i.e., a traffic offense not punishable by the
possibility of imprisonment).
C. NTI: The citation issued for one or
more traffic infractions relating to traffic
movement and control. Such infractions include
moving, equipment, and pedestrian offenses but
not parking offenses. An NTI shall not be
issued for a traffic crime.
D. NPI: The citation issued for a vehicle
that is parked or stopped in violation of a
parking-related state statute, county ordinance,
or state or county administrative rule. An NPI
shall not be issued for a criminal parking offense.
E. Citation for NonTraffic Crime(s) Arrest (CNTCA): The
citation designated by the Judiciary to charge
nontraffic crimes that may be charged by citation in
place of a physical arrest.
F. Listed Offense: A state statute, county
ordinance, or state or county administrative rule
relating to traffic movement and control that
is printed on an MCTC.
G. Unlisted Offense: A state statute, county ordinance,
or state or county administrative rule relating to
traffic movement and control that is not printed on
an MCTC.
CONTROL OF CITATION BOOKS
A. Acquisition and Distribution of Citation Books
1. Elements in the Alapai Headquarters
The patrol arsenal shall procure citation books
from the Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB). The
arsenal shall also prepare citation book assignment
logs to be distributed with the books to officers
and special commissioned officers assigned to the Alapai headquarters.
a. Citation books obtained from the TVB shall
be kept within the patrol arsenal and/or other designated, secure area.
b. The division commander or designee
responsible for the patrol arsenal shall ensure
that the required information for each citation
book (i.e., officer’s name, badge number, and
identification number; date and time issued; and
issuer’s initials) is recorded in the citation book assignment log.
c. Upon completion of each page of the log,
the division commander or designee responsible
for the patrol arsenal shall secure and retain
each page for at least three years.
d. Each citation book received by an officer
shall be inspected by the officer to ensure that
the numerical sequence of citations corresponds
to the sequence listed on the log. If a discrepancy
is noted, the discrepancy shall be reported by the officer
via the issuing element to the TVB. If necessary, the
defective book shall be returned to the TVB.
e. Upon receipt of the citation book, the officer
shall print on the front cover the following information:
1) Name;
2) Identification number;
3) Issuing facility (i.e., Alapai headquarters); and
4) Element name (i.e., District 6, Traffic Division, etc.).
2. Elements Outside of the Alapai Headquarters
Elements outside of the Alapai headquarters shall
procure citation books from the TVB and prepare citation book assignment logs.
a. The citation books shall be maintained in a
secure area within each element’s facility.
b. The division commander or designee shall
ensure that the required information for each
citation book (i.e., officer’s name, badge number,
and identification number; date and time issued;
and issuer’s initials) is recorded in the citation book assignment log.
c. Upon completion of each page of the log,
the responsible element shall retain each page
for at least three years.
d. Each book received by an officer shall
be inspected by the officer to ensure that the
numerical sequence of citations corresponds to
the sequence listed on the log. If a discrepancy
is noted, the discrepancy shall be reported by
the officer via the issuing element to the TVB
or appropriate district court. If necessary,
the defective book shall be returned to the
TVB or appropriate district court.
e. Upon receipt of the citation book, the
officer shall print on the front cover the following information:
1) Name;
2) Identification number;
3) Issuing facility (e.g., Kaneohe station,
Kapolei station, etc.); and
4) Element name (e.g., District 4, District 8, etc.).
B. An officer or special commissioned
officer may initially receive two citation
books of each type (CTCA, NTI, NPI, or CNTCA).
Additionally, the officer may be issued a new
book only in exchange for a used, defective,
or damaged book or as a replacement for one that has been lost or stolen.
C. Requests for additional citation books
for specific operations shall be approved by
the element commander or designee responsible
for the procurement and distribution of citation books.
D. Damaged or defective books shall be
returned to the element’s designated facility.
E. Each issuing element commander shall
ensure that empty or partially used citation
books and unused citations/citation books are
returned, logged, and destroyed.
ISSUING CITATIONS
A. The officer or special commissioned
officer shall ensure that the information
required on the face of the citation has
been completed properly before issuing it
to the violator. However, in the absence
of the violator, the citation shall be
attached to a parked vehicle or transmitted
to the violator in accordance with the law.
1. Required information on the face of
the CTCA, NTI, and CNTCA citations shall include,
but not be limited to, the following: offense
information (traffic crime, infraction, or
criminal); district and beat of the offense;
driver’s license information (if applicable);
violator information; violator’s and officer’s
names; vehicle information (if applicable); and
monetary assessment amount or court date (as applicable).
2. Required information on the face of
the NPI citation shall include, but not be
limited to, the following: type of traffic
offense, district, beat, date and time of
offense, license plate or vehicle identification
number, color and make of vehicle, operator/
violator information, offense information,
and monetary assessment amount or court (as applicable).
3. The officer or special commissioned
officer issuing either a traffic or criminal
citation shall legibly print or stamp his or
her rank, first initial, last name, and
identification number in the spaces provided on the citation.
4. The officer or special commissioned
officer shall legibly print all required and
any other relevant information on the citation
in black ink. Additionally, the officer shall
sign his or her name in the space provided for
the “Officer’s Signature” on the citation, as applicable.
5. If the violator refuses, is not available,
or is unable to sign the citation, this fact and
the reason the violator did not sign shall be
noted in the space for the violator’s signature.
B. The required information shall be
written on the citation to articulate relevant
facts regarding the offense.
1. In circumstances involving criminal
offenses, speeding, traffic crimes, and traffic
infractions (i.e., pedestrian violations or
moving violations such as rules relating to
traffic movement and control), the officer
shall document the facts establishing the
offense on the officer’s report on the citation.
2. In circumstances involving nonmoving
traffic infractions (i.e., parking or equipment
violations) where there are sufficient facts
establishing the offense on the face of the
citation, additional facts pertinent to the
violation may be, but are not required to be, written on the citation.
3. In circumstances involving violations
due to expiration dates (i.e., safety check,
registration, etc.), the officer may write the
expiration date on the face of the citation
with the required information. Any additional
facts may be written on the citation but are not required.
C. If an error on a citation is detected
before it is issued, the citation shall be voided
(refer to section V A) and another citation shall be completed.
SUBMITTING CITATIONS
A. At the end of the tour of duty during
which one or more citations were issued, the
officer or special commissioned officer shall
complete the digital Citation Turned in by
Officer, HPD 159 form, accessed via the
department intranet site, and attach all
required copies of the citations issued.
1. Citations issued from a tag book of
the same type (CTCA, NTI, NPI, or CNTCA)
shall be packaged together with a completed
HPD-159 form. Citations issued from a
different type of tag book shall be packaged
separately under another completed HPD-159 form.
2. If a citation was issued outside of a
regular tour of duty, the officer or special
commissioned officer shall turn in the
completed HPD-159 form and the citation(s) on:
(1) his or her next working day or (2) on the
second business day (Monday through Friday)
after the date of issuance, whichever occurs first.
3. Officers or special commissioned
officers issuing citations in different
district court jurisdictions shall separate
their citations by the court boundaries.
Also, the HPD-159 form shall be submitted
with the citations for each separate court.
For court boundaries, refer to Section 4-1(3),
Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS).
B. The issuing officer or special
commissioned officer shall submit his or
her packaged citations and signed HPD-159 form(s)
to a supervisor for review and approval.
C. The supervisor reviewing the citation(s) and
HPD-159 form(s) shall ensure that the information on
the documents is complete and correct (i.e., in
numerical order and the offense has the correct
section number and contains all required information).
Upon approving the documents, the supervisor shall
sign his or her rank and name and print his or her
departmental identification number in the “Supervisor’s
Signature” space provided.
D. The printed original of each HPD-159 form
shall be secured and retained by each element for at least three years.
E. The copy of the HPD-159 form and the
corresponding citations shall be placed in a
secure receptacle and forwarded to the TVB or
appropriate rural district court.
F. If the TVB or rural district court
notifies the responsible officer of a discrepancy
in the documents submitted, the officer shall
address the errors in accordance with this policy and applicable statutes.
G. In circumstances involving the Parking
Enforcement and Collection Section (PECS),
Traffic Division, submittal of citations to the TVB shall be as follows:
1. The PECS officers shall use the Daily
Citation Report, HPD-159A form, in addition to the
HPD-159 form, to record and account for the
citations being submitted to their supervisors;
2. The PECS officers shall submit the
issued citations to a designated supervisor
for review and approval. The supervisor
shall package the citations together with
the Daily Citation Receipt, HPD-497A form,
and send them to the TVB;
3. After ensuring that the information
is complete and correct, the PECS supervisor
shall sign his or her name and print his or
her departmental identification number on the
HPD-159 and HPD-159A forms;
4. The HPD-159, HPD-159A, and HPD-497A forms
shall be secured and retained for at least three years;
5. The citations and the Daily Citation Receipt,
HPD-497A form, shall be placed in a secured area and
forwarded to the TVB; and
6. If the TVB notifies the PECS officer of a
discrepancy in the documents submitted, the officer
shall address the errors in accordance with this
policy and applicable statutes.
CITATIONS AND CITATION BOOKS THAT CANNOT BE PROCESSED
There shall be an accounting of all citations
and citation books assigned to officers or
special commissioned officers. Any citation
or citation book that is damaged, issued in
error, defective, destroyed, lost, stolen, or
unaccounted for shall be processed in accordance
with the applicable provisions of this section.
A. Voiding Citations
If an error is detected on a citation before
it is issued, the citation shall be voided as outlined below:
1. The word “VOID” shall be written across the citation;
2. Voided citations of the same type (CTCA,
NTI, NPI, and CNTCA) shall be listed together on
an HPD-159 form with the word “VOID” written in
the appropriate violation column to the right of
the citation number. All three pages of each
citation shall be attached to the HPD-159 form
and submitted to the officer’s supervisor;
3. Supervisors shall review all voided
citations for correctness then separate the
citations from the HPD-159 form and shred them; and
4. The original of each HPD-159 form
shall be secured and retained by each element for at least three years.
B. Canceling Issued Citations
An officer who issues a citation and later
determines that it should not have been given
shall submit a request to cancel the citation.
If the court copy has not yet been submitted to
the TVB or appropriate court, the request shall
be handled in accordance with procedures approved
by the deputy chief judge, District Court of the
First Judicial Circuit, and the department,
which are summarized herein.
If the court copy of the citation has
already been submitted to the TVB or appropriate
court, the officer shall be guided by section VIII.
1. Request for Cancellation of Citations Issued for Traffic Infractions
As defined in Chapter 291D, HRS, traffic
infractions include all violations of statutes;
ordinances; or rules relating to traffic movement
and control (including parking, standing, equipment,
and pedestrian offenses) for which the prescribed
penalties do not include imprisonment.
Requests to cancel citations issued for traffic
infractions may be submitted as spelled out below.
2. Requests for Cancellation of Citations
Issued for All Offenses Except Traffic Infractions
The following procedures shall be used for
requests to cancel citations issued for all
offenses except traffic infractions:
C. Unused Citations and Citation Books
Officers or special commissioned officers who
transfer or leave the department may have unused
citations/citation books. All unused citations/
citation books shall be returned to the appropriate
issuing element. The issuing element shall record
the return date of the citations/citation books on
the citation book assignment log and destroy the citations/citation books.
D. Depleted Citation Books
All depleted (empty) citation books shall be returned
to the appropriate issuing element. The issuing
element shall be responsible for recording the return
date of the used books on the citation assignment log
and arranging to have the books burned.
E. Missing Citation
The TVB administrative procedures may be used
in circumstances where a citation is missing
and the officer is unable to account for the citation.
The division-level commander shall submit a
departmental letterhead memorandum to the TVB
explaining the effort to locate the citation
and requesting that the missing citation be
processed in accordance with the TVB administrative procedures.
F. Manual of Operations (MOP)
Division commanders shall be responsible
for establishing procedures in their MOPs
to implement the provisions of this policy
regarding the issuing, documenting, and
disposing of voided and returned citations and citation books.
PARKING CITATIONS ISSUED TO DEPARTMENTAL PERSONNEL
A. Section 15-4.1(e), Revised Ordinances
of Honolulu 2021, provides that officers of
the Honolulu Police Department are exempt from
the payment of fees for parking meters and from
time-parking restrictions while in the performance
of their duty. This exemption also applies to
civilian employees of the department while attending
court in their official capacity.
B. Officers who receive a parking citation
while in the performance of their duties and
civilian employees who are cited while attending
court may request to be exempted from a parking
violation through the procedures listed below:
DISPUTES CONCERNING CITATIONS
No officer or civilian employee is authorized
to cancel or void any validly issued citation.
Anyone who challenges a citation for a traffic
infraction shall be referred to the appropriate
district court. Anyone who challenges a citation
for any other offense shall be referred to the
Misdemeanor Prosecution Division, Department of
the Prosecuting Attorney.
See Section 286-138, HRS, Prohibiting “fixing”
of tickets and providing penalties therefor;
nolle prosequi by prosecuting attorney only
by motion and approval of court.