Ten runaway youth between the ages of 13 and 18 years old were recovered on Oʻahu through a multi-law enforcement agency operation, local enforcement said. The young people were also provided with services to support their well-being and ensure they do not return to the streets.
Operation Shine the Light is an interdisciplinary task force focused on endangered kids who are vulnerable to being trafficked or abused.
Amanda Leonard, the coordinator of the Missing Child Center Hawaiʻi under the Department of the Attorney General, was a key player in coordinating local and national-level agencies, like the FBI and U.S. Secret Service.
“These kids that are on the run on the streets are extremely vulnerable. They are unhoused, hungry, or they may suffer from drug addiction,” Leonard said. “They're looking for someone that's going to take care of them, and unfortunately, there are people out there that are willing to and want to exploit them.”
She said there are between 1,500 and 2,000 runaway reports in Hawaiʻi every year, with Oʻahu consistently reporting the highest amount.
This recent recovery was the operation’s fifth mission since it began in 2020, and it has recovered more than 40 young people in the past five years.
“The initiative has three main objectives: recover reported runaways, provide them with services and placement to ensure they don’t return to the streets, and to deter bad actors from exploiting their vulnerabilities,” Leonard said.
The Honolulu Police Department is not allowed to discuss details of the conditions the kids were found in, but said there were multiple arrests and warrants issued during the operation, with several investigations still ongoing.
Ed Arias, the Internet Crimes Against Children commander for the state, said these cases are all too personal for him because he sees his own child in each case. He described the tenseness and the blood draining from his face whenever he could not find his son in a grocery store or parking lot.
“When I’m on the job and I’m seeing another kid in pain, you naturally think about your own kid, and then it’s that nightmare that your son or your daughter is missing,” Arias said. “So even though it can be traumatizing to see a situation and then think about our kids, I think there's no task greater than working with these kinds of cases and seeing them succeed.”
Although Arias and Leonard are both still basking in the success of the operation, they know their work is not done. Leonard explained that many of the recovered kids resist being recovered, and that there is a good chance they will run away and return to the streets.
“People in the public may think that the kids will jump into our arms because they're so excited, but that's not the reality,” Leonard said.
“But no matter what they say or do, they are children who deserve protection. Just because they may run away again, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't do anything. We're never going to stop searching for these kids and trying to help them and redirect them. That is our job, that is our mission, and that is our intention.”
Those who have information on a possible case can report it to the police or to the Child Welfare Services hotline.
