Nakamura made those comments despite the fact his department has nearly 100 fewer officers than three years ago with a force of 1,794.
"If I was given an option of getting 300 officers or building prison space, I would opt for the prison space because that's what's driving the crime rate here," Nakamura said last week.
The chief's comments mirrored those of Mayor Jeremy Harris, who has come under attack from political opponents Arnold Morgado and Frank Fasi, who both claim to have more workable plans to fight crime.
The state's crime rate rose in 1995 for the fifth straight year and was the highest in 15 years.
But Nakamura said just because he and Harris agree on the crime issue does not mean he is supporting Harris' re-election bid.
"The mayor listened to his people, and we've been talking about prison space and minimum-security detention facilities for property criminals for a long time," Nakamura said.
"So I think it's more appropriate to say he's listening to law enforcement rather than we're supporting him.
"The officers are out on the road, making the cases, making the arrests, but you see the same people over and over again," Nakamura said.
"The bottom line is we need more prison space. We need more detention facilities so that we can provide some consequences to the people that we catch."
The chief acknowledged that there have been fewer officers on the road in recent years, due primarily to the state's 1994 early-retirement incentive program.
Morgado has repeatedly called for an accelerated effort to recruit and train more officers.
"Irrespective of the early out (retirement program), the Harris administration failed to place a priority on increasing the number of police officers until this election year," Morgado said.
The department has not been given everything it needs, he said, including $4 million withheld last year from the police budget.
Morgado said Nakamura is keeping silent because "he's toeing the line xxx he's still a department head." Morgado said it was up to Harris - as Fasi's managing director during the early-retirement program - to anticipate its effects and plan more wisely.
Fasi has advocated calling in the Hawaii National Guard to help patrol the streets voluntarily. He could not be reached to comment on this story.
"We could always use police officers," Nakamura said.
"Obviously, if every neighborhood had their police officers, the sense of security in those neighborhoods would go up, and we're concerned with that."
But the chief reiterated his opposition to Morgado's plan to bring on more officers more quickly.
"I would not endorse increasing the police staff by more than what we can successfully train throughout the training process," Nakamura said.
"Other jurisdictions have undergone corruption problems and poor-quality problems when increasing their staffing dramatically," the chief said. "You lose quality."
Nakamura said his department works closely with the National Guard and the troops would get involved "if it gets to the stage where it is an emergency to the state."
