For at least the past 13 years, whenever there was a search for a missing person on Oahu, the face of the Honolulu Police Department was officer Joe Self. ‘Missing-person’
officer retiresHPD officer Joe Self has investigated
such incidents since 1981By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comSelf has been the HPD Missing Persons unit's most visible representative since it was formed in 1989 and assigned to the department's homicide detail. At the end of the year, HPD officials will have to find a replacement for Self, who is retiring after 34 years of service.
"Obviously, it's going to be difficult. You're never going to replace a person like Joe," said homicide Lt. Bill Kato.
Self's experience in tracking down missing people goes back to 1981, when he was assigned to the department's Juvenile Services Division, which handled the missing-persons cases. In all the years he has spent tracking down missing people, Self said, he never thought about doing anything else.
"I love my job and (am) satisfied with how my career went working missing persons and homicide," Self said. "I had my ups and downs, my suspensions, but my heart is still with the department."
The missing-persons unit is assigned to the homicide detail because missing people are often murder victims. Self said finding a missing person is always satisfying no matter how the case ends.
In January 1997, Self directed Honolulu firefighters to rappel down the Pali Lookout, where they found 16-year-old Gabriel Robinson, injured but alive, who fell 300 feet down the cliff six days earlier.
"That is a good feeling because the amount of time a person can survive is limited," Self said.
That same year, Self began investigating the disappearance of four men with ties to a North Shore drug dealer. The investigation eventually determined the four men were murdered. The buried remains of two of the victims were recovered. Police learned the remains of the other two victims were also buried but later dug up, dumped into the ocean and never recovered. The drug dealer and two of his associates are in state prison after they were found guilty of the murders.
"The result was the best it could be," Self said. "These guys were dead from the minute they were missing."
Self, 53, said he is retiring because the state Employees' Retirement System is changing the way it computes state employee pensions beginning in January. The changes simplify the computations but can also reduce the pensions of employees like Self, whose salaries vary greatly year to year because of overtime.
The missing-persons unit, consisting of a sergeant, Self and another officer, handles about 100 cases per month but had gone as high as 120 per month. Self said the overtime prevented him from seeing his grandchildren.
"They say, 'Papa, I see you on TV,' but I don't see them at home," he said. "When I leave they're sleeping. When I come home they're sleeping. It was the same with my kids."
