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A long-awaited Honolulu Police Department report detailing a deadly police standoff two years ago fails to address how future tragedies could be avoided, two independent law enforcement experts say.

The 17-page report, released by HPD last week, concluded that officers responding to a reported assault and subsequent standoff on Hibiscus Drive in January 2020, acted in compliance with departmental procedures. The incident resulted in the deaths of HPD officers Tiffany Enriquez and Kaulike Kalama, as well as local homeowner Lois Cain and her tenant, Jerry “Jarda” Hanel, who police said opened fire on officers before setting the home ablaze.

Police experts who reviewed the report at Civil Beat’s request said it lacks a substantive analysis of relevant HPD policies. HPD has made no changes to those procedures since the incident.

“I don’t think the cops are at fault,” said Brian Higgins, an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and former chief of police and director of public safety for Bergen County, New Jersey. “I don’t think they did anything bad or inappropriate, but what can we learn from this so that we can save other cops’ lives in the future? That’s not in this report. This is really kind of a cover-your-ass report.”

In a separate interview, Chris Grollnek, a former SWAT officer in Texas and active shooter training expert, echoed Higgins’ assessment.

“They’re summarizing the deaths of two police officers and two citizens, even though one of them was at their own hand, and when you write a report it’s kind of negligent not to release more,” said Grollneck. “It does nothing for public trust.”

Both Grollnek and Higgins said HPD should have called in an independent agency to review the response to the incident.

“When an officer loses their life it’s tragic,” Grollnek said. “However, when something bad happens, you remove all the stops and barriers to make sure that exact same incident doesn’t occur again and that takes a long, objective look from within.”

“What’s the best way to do that?” Grollnek asked. “To garner public trust by having an independent outside body come and do that evaluation for you and tell you where your strengths and weaknesses are.”

In a statement to Civil Beat, HPD Interim Chief Rade Vanic said the department made no changes to policies or procedures following an internal review of the Hibiscus Drive incident, although the department did increase “critical incident training” for patrol officers and supervisors, which includes active shooter drills that utilize “reality-based scenarios.”

According to the recently released report, the HPD’s Administrative Review Board was tasked not only with determining whether officers followed protocol during the standoff, but also whether any changes should be made to HPD procedure.

The report, however, addresses only whether responding officers followed policy without offering any analysis or review of the department’s tactics related to barricade, hostage, and sniper incidents.

“I get it from their end,” Higgins said. “This is more of a ‘Did the cops do their job? Are we covered as a city?’”

“What I would like to see is an independent organization come in and see if the policy is up to speed,” Higgins said. “Just because the cops were following policy means they did what they were supposed to, but are the policies sufficient? That is not covered here.”

One of the issues that Higgins suggested should be reviewed is how the department’s Specialized Services Division, which includes the SWAT Team, responded to the scene. The unit did not arrive on the scene until more than 25 minutes after the first shot was fired and they were called to the home, according to the report.

Michelle Yu, an HPD spokeswoman, said that current policy requires patrol officers to call for SWAT team support through the department’s dispatchers.

“There shouldn’t have had to have been a request, quite frankly,” Higgins said. “If they get a call of shots fired, that should have been an automatic response from a tactical team.”

Grollnek takes a different view. He said that a report of shots fired should not necessarily trigger a SWAT team intervention and that the SSD’s response time to Hibiscus Drive fits the national average.

“In the lower 48 (states), that’s the average,” Grollnek said, “22 to 38 minutes depending on the department, depending on traffic.”

Higgins added that a full review of the department’s tactics in response to the incident would have been easier if more officers had activated their body-worn cameras.

According to the report, the majority of responding officers activated their body cameras but at least 13 officers did not for various reasons that are allowed by policy. Another three officers’ body cameras either fell off or were lost.

“We’re lacking a lot of video that would have been very helpful had those cops had their cameras on,” Higgins said.

HPD had not previously revealed that footage of the Hibiscus Drive incident existed. Civil Beat filed a public records request for the video following the report’s release but has not yet received it.

Higgins and Grollnek also questioned why a tactical review of the 2020 incident was not published sooner, upon the conclusion of the HPD’s investigation, which was nearing completion more than a year ago.

“The one that’s lacking and the one I have issue with that should have been much more timely is the tactical review,” Higgins said. “What can be done differently to save lives.”

In a statement, Vanic addressed why the report took more than two years to compile.

“The department does not usually prepare summary reports,” Vanic wrote. “In this case, the decision to create the report was made by the previous administration. The change in administration contributed to the delay in completing the report.”

Former chief Susan Ballard retired in June 2021 and Vanic took over as interim chief following her departure.