 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines. I feel very grateful to feature such a wide spectrum of amazing guests who inspire all of us to strive for greatness. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. My special guest today is an outstanding man with great character, and he is the coordinator for crime stoppers here in Hawaii. He is Sergeant Chris Kim, and today we are going beyond law enforcement. Hey Chris, good to have you. Thank you for having me. I feel so safe having the police here. Now we have so much to talk about today. I want to ask you, tell me about your early years of your life. My early years. I was actually born in South Korea, but when I was three months old, my parents immigrated here to Hawaii. My father was part of the military. He moved over first, and eventually my mother and my older brother came over, and years later my younger brother was born. Wow. And in what schools and sports did you play in a tent? So I was at Hawaii Elementary. I played in Patrick's for Intermediate, and I graduated from Kamiki High School. So my early years were more going fishing, playing sports just for the neighborhood kids. Soccer? More like baseball, like football, and as I got into high school was when I took up wrestling. So I wrestled from my sophomore to my senior year. And what about college? I started off at Kapilani Community College with the idea that I wanted to be a chef. I've always enjoyed cooking, both my parents cook very well and always had an interest in cooking. And then I realized that that should be a hobby, and one of my true passions at the time was cars. I wanted to be a mechanic. I transferred over to the Hanon Community College, where I took up automotive mechanics. Wow. Cool. I wish I could cook. It helps. Now, you have two beautiful daughters. Yes. Tell me about them. So I have Haley. She's 11, going to be 12. And Crystalyn, who just turned seven. They are basically the light of my life, and they're the ones that make me want to be better every day. Now, do you take them fishing, too? I do. So you know what's funny is Haley was born, and people were like, oh, you've got to have another baby, but you've got to have a boy. Crystalyn came around. Obviously I have two girls now. Well, you've got to have another one, but you've got to have a boy. And I said, for what? And he says, you know, every dad wants a boy. And I says, well, girls can do just the same amount of things that boys can do. And that's what I teach them. I empower them that there is nothing that you folks can't do that a boy can't do. I take them fishing. I take them to the beach. We do martial arts together. So everything that a boy can do, my daughters can do. Completely agree, Chris. Now, what was your first job that you ever had in your life? My first job was almost kind of simultaneous. When I was a freshman at Kamikia High School, I basically applied to clean the classrooms. After school was done, I would go through all the classrooms and basically just clean them up like a janitor. And shortly after, I applied over at the whole 76 auto service where I was a gas attendant. I basically pumped gas. Certain days I'll pump gas and certain days I'll clean classrooms. Wow. I love hearing that. Now, Chris, I want to know, why did you end up becoming a police officer? I was actually going through college, a hundred community college, and some of my high school friends were like, hey, let's take the HPT exam. I always enjoyed watching the cops TV show. I was always intrigued, but I never thought that I would be a police officer. So plus I had family friends that were in the department and I would hear the war stories. It seemed interesting, but it was one night I was working as a valet in Waikiki where I heard this female screaming, and I had kind of looked up on the street and I saw this tourist being personaged and grabbed the bag and took off running. It was almost like an instantaneous knee-jerk reaction where I chased after the guy. He ended up getting apprehended, got arrested, and the tourist got her bag back. But from there I started kind of getting, I think a little bit more interested. He took the test and I ended up passing and ran today. Wow, interesting. It's a knee-jerk reaction. It's you're born to do it. Well, now you're a sergeant and you're the coordinator of Crime Stoppers and you have a team of volunteers. Tell me about everything that's going on with Crime Stoppers right now. So Crime Stoppers, we're actually a non-profit organization that was founded in 1981. And what I tell people is that Crime Stoppers is basically, we're a resource. We are the link between the Honolulu Police Department, the community, and the media. We basically solicit tips from the public and help the Police Department solve cases with those tips. And you guys also have, you're bringing awareness about animal cruelty as well. And you appear on the pet hooey pretty consistently now. Tell me about that. So the Animal Crime Stoppers program was founded in 2001 in partnership with the Hawai'i Mee Society and the Honolulu Police Department and we were actually very fortunate that I was, I am friends with a former co-host, Denby Dung, and the current co-host, Dara Dung, who were gracious enough to introduce me to Ron Darby, who was the show's producer, and very passionate about protecting our pets. And I've been fortunate enough to now have regular segments on the show. And we're able to promote Animal Crime Stoppers and fight animal cruelty and basically just educate the public. Yeah. Well, Dara and Denby Dung, I mean, they're amazing people. And I saw that, how that puppy got buried in the sand. And then now the puppy had a full recovery and just got adopted. What more can you tell me about the puppy? So my understanding of the puppy, Lelua, is well recovered very well. It's unfortunate that this incident happened, but I think the silver lining to this is that there's a lot of awareness out there about animal cruelty and there are more eyes and ears now. Totally. I like that. And Chief Lee Donahue, I had him on my show a few months ago. Such an honorable man, such, he has great respect from all of us. And he's the president of Crime Stoppers. And you know him for a long time. Yes. What are your thoughts about Coach Chief Lee? So coincidentally, when I joined the Honolulu Police Department in 1998, Chief Donahue had just taken over. And if I'm not mistaken, my recoup class, 131st recoup class, was his second recoup class. And you know, he basically swore my class in and fast forward 21 years later to present day and he becomes president of Crime Stoppers. So essentially I start off my career with Chief Donahue and now I'm at the tell in my career and I'm finishing it off with Chief Donahue. And I told Chief Lee, I said, and you know, he seems like he's the busiest he's ever been right now. I don't know how he does everything. He's just very passionate about, you know, providing safety for the community. Yeah. What character traits do you most admire from Chief Lee? Very personable. He has a lot of respect. When you look at him, everything he does and says is very genuine and that's what I really like about him. Yeah. I mean, I love that. He's very honest. Yes. He has great positive energy. Yes. He cares. Yes. Yeah. I love that. And Chief Susan Ballard is doing a great job leading the police department. Tell me about your thoughts about Chief Susan. I think she's done a wonderful job prior to her taking over at, I had very little interaction with her. You know, obviously, you know, there's over 2000 of us. But since she's taken over, I've had interactions with her. I like what she's doing. I like where she's taken to the department. She is basically listening to the law rank, basically open years. She's willing to receive criticism, or how can we make the department better? She's asking it in the law rank since it's just my own personal opinion. And she's definitely, I mean, from what we all see, I mean, she's taking the police department in the right direction, and she's very respected, very, you know, I hold her in high esteem. Yes. And I want to ask you this, you know, about those, the water dousing of the police officers, the video that's, you know, shown in New York, I mean, very sickening. Yes. Tell me your thoughts about that. Wow. When I first saw that video, exactly what you said, very sickening, very sickening that we now live in a society where they feel like it's okay to disrespect police officers like that. It's very disheartening to see that. And I'm hoping that things will change. I'm hoping that that incident will bring some awareness and just open people's eyes. Yeah. And Chris, you know, there was another video that showed like little kids with water guns shooting the police officers as well. And I'm thinking, you know, the parents are there obviously pouring buckets of water on the police officers and the children, the kids are just mimicking the parents. Yes. I mean, and you're a parent. Yeah. How does that make you feel? It's once again, it's very disheartening, you know, that the parents are setting the wrong example for the children, you know, to disrespect the police officers in it. They're police officers, but at the same time, they're people. Yeah. You know, they have feelings. They were obviously, it must have been, I would imagine, you know, humiliated, upset about the whole situation. Yeah. And for Crime Stoppers, Chris, you know, you've been doing a lot of presentations to schools and organizations. I mean, tell me some of the some of the places you've been to so far. So the Student Crime Stoppers program was founded in 1997 in partnership with the Department of Education and the Honolulu Police Department. And basically, we are a resource for students to take a proactive approach in helping to keep their communities and their schools safe. And we've managed to have great success with the program. We were able to solve sex assault cases, ruling issues, prevented suicides. And what it is, we just go and speak to the kids about just how to be an upstander. Yeah. You know, when you see something, say something, you know, be a positive role model. Yeah. And we, even that avenue to report things anonymously, because I think kids and all these, they're always, they're afraid of being known as a rat or the snitch. But with us, they're able to disclose information or give us tips completely anonymously. What are the biggest challenges that you see right now with Crime Stoppers and how you're trying to take it to the next level? I don't know if there's so much challenges. It seems like people are more receptive and more aware of Crime Stoppers now, where we're being constantly invited now to speak at various organization schools, rotary clubs. So I don't, at this moment, I can't really see any challenges. Yeah. I'm very happy to see that people are more responsive now to Crime Stoppers. You know, in terms of, you know, your fellow police officers, what is the, what is the best thing about being a police officer and what is the worst thing would you say? The best thing about police officer, it's just a lot of us, we're not here for the pay. Yeah. We, we're here because you've got to have it in you to, to have a positive impact within your community, self-fulfillment, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's huge, you know, to be a police officer. Some of the challenges, as you said earlier, you know, the water dousing incidents. I think the lack of respect for police officers now, we're constantly being criticized, constantly being watched. Sometimes it's just disheartening, you know, just the amount of disrespect of people. And I'm not, I'm not saying everybody, you know, because obviously that there is a huge support for law enforcement, but it's just, with social media, people posting things like that, it's very disheartening. Yeah. And you know, that water dousing, I mean, people have to respect the police officers and they have to respect the military. That's logical. It's common sense. I mean, you guys and the military are protecting us. And we have to respect that. And when I see stuff like that, I mean, that's so shameful. That's so embarrassing that people would stoop down to that level to do that. We're going to continue going beyond law enforcement, but we're going to take a quick break, Chris. And great having you here right now. Awesome. Happy to be here. Thank you. You're watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, Sergeant Chris Kim. We will be back in a quick minute. Hey, hello, everyone, and welcome to the Think Tech Hawaii studio. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Pretty Matters Hawaii. We air here every Tuesday at 10 a.m. Hawaii time, trying to bring you issues about security that you may not know, issues that can protect your family, protect yourself, protect our community, protect our companies, the folks we work with. Please join us and I hope you can maybe get a little different perspective on how to live a little safer. Aloha. Hi, guys. I'm your host, Lillian Cumick, from Lillian's Vegan World. I come to you live every second Friday from 3 p.m. And this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism. So we go through recipes, some upcoming events, information about health, regarding your health, and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle, eat healthier, and have fun at the same time. So do join me. I look forward to seeing you and Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is the coordinator for Crime Stoppers here in Hawaii. He is Sergeant Chris Kim. And today we are going beyond law enforcement. Chris, I want to ask you your thoughts about my book Beyond the Lines. So I was fortunate enough that I had a former beef partner call me up and say, Chris, I have this book for you. I really want you to read it. I think that they think it's going to help you. And once I started to read it, a lot of things in the book really hit home. But I think what I really like about it is how you talk about personal life experiences in there. This is actually first-hand knowledge coming from you. It's not some made-up thought. This is actual true stories. But you give a lot of leadership-wise, a lot of good insight. And for me as a supervisor and a coordinator for the Crime Stoppers, we have a team of 25 volunteers right now. And I'm able to utilize a lot of those ideas. I want to give you a funny story. You mentioned something there about make everyone matter. So sometimes when I have my daughters, like, we'll stop by McDonald's and have that app for buy one, get one free or something. I'll buy an extra burger or whatever it comes with. And there's a certain janitor I see at the police department. And if I get that free thing, then I'll go and I'll give it to him. So my daughter, I just asked last week, like, Dad, why do you always give that janitor food? And he says, you know what? I said, because his job is just as important as daddy's job. His job is just as important as the chief's job. Because if we didn't have the janitor, then the police station would be dirty. So basically, everybody has a role. And I'm teaching my kids that everybody matters. And you have to make them feel that way. And I do that with my volunteers, too. Since I've taken over, I've sat with them. I get their feedback. How can we make the environment better for you folks? Crime Stoppers, Honolulu is one of the few, if not the only, program that utilizes a team of volunteers who answer calls. A lot of other Crime Stoppers programs nationwide utilize call centers. So we are one of the very few, if not the only, that utilize a team of volunteers. And I want to make sure that they're happy, because they're a huge integral part of the success of how Crime Stoppers operate. That's why you're a great leader, Chris. I mean, everyone does matter. Everyone plays a role. And everyone wants to feel like they're contributing and making a difference. Now, going on with your team of volunteers, what specific things are you trying to implement in your culture of excellence with them? Just the fact that making them feel that they matter. So I asked, how can we make the environment better for you? And our numbers show. So basically, once I got feedback from them, OK, sorry, I think we need this. I think we need that. It'd be nice to have some snacks or some refreshments. Or we started doing this. We're trying to make them happy. And the amount of volunteer hours that they're logging in is a lot more than in the past. So I think the greatest thing is making sure that, although I'm the coordinator and people think, I'm the one that people typically see out in the public. But you know what? It's actually all these other people behind the scenes. I have my volunteer, I have my Clark typist, not the officer, Glenda Cabras, Nana Takashi Gomes, who's my Clark typist, they matter just as much as I do. My team of volunteers, they matter, too, as well as our board of directors. There are a lot of people behind the scenes. And I make sure that they all know appreciate it. And earlier you talked about how Chief Susan listens. And you listen as well. And it's great to get the ideas and how can we find ways to do things better and have different solutions to problems. So that's awesome. Chris, I want to ask you, have you had like a major adversity in your life? And how did you overcome that? I think like everybody else out there, we all have adversities and challenges in life. But for me personally, back in 2016, I started a very year-long divorce process. It's not something, it was hard. I tried to, I wanted to keep the marriage obviously because of my two kids. But after trying for a couple of months, I realized that I needed to take control of my life. And I went through the divorce process. And I honestly have to say that that was the hardest thing that I ever went through. Emotionally, physically, mentally, it was difficult. And a year later, when it had ended, I was still bitter about a lot of things and upset. But then I realized that it wasn't doing me any good. Holding onto those feelings because it's basically eating me alive. So I decided to change my mindset. Start being more positive. Someone had told me the best thing about being at rock bottom is that there's only one place and that's up. And that's what I kept telling myself. Then fortunately, I was surrounded by a good support group between my family, friends, and co-workers where they basically saw me through all of that. Wow. And then you told me before that you had a high point that you thought was a high point in your life where you had new car, you had a new house. And what happened? So before my divorce, I was actually a detective in the homicide detail. OK. We were very busy with different types of cases. The opportunity to make money was there. But with that opportunity, it took a lot of time. Making the money. I had a new house. I had a new boat. I had a new truck. The outside, it looked like I had it all. Looking back on it, I realized that it was just material things. I think I was still missing that fulfillment inside of me. And it's weird because now you fast-forward to the present day where I don't have the house, I don't have a boat. I don't have a truck. I live in a small little apartment now. But yet I feel like the amount of self-fulfillment that I have now is huge, way greater than it's ever been. Yeah. No, I get that. I understand that. Chris, who is someone that inspires you? My mother, she's a hard worker. She still works in the restaurant business. She's 67 years old. When she first immigrated to Hawaii from Korea, she didn't speak a lick of English. But she's always been a hard worker, as well as my father. My father has since passed away in 2001. But looking back on it, they both were very hard workers. And I try and live up to that. Yeah. My mother inspires me. I love hearing that. What's the most valuable piece of advice you've ever received? I've received so many. I've been very fortunate that I've been surrounded by good people. And I've received so many good advice. But one thing that still resounds to me when my former sergeant, when my first daughter Haley was born, I was a patrol officer in the Alamona area. And I was still kind of young. And one day he kind of, we had a deep discussion, because he was a single father. I never thought that I would be a single father. No one ever expects to get divorced. One thing he told me at the time as he was a single father, he says, Chris, one piece of advice I want to give you is that you want to live your life. If your life was to play out in front of your children on a movie screen, would you be proud of what was playing on the movie screen? Would you allow your children to see what was playing on the movie screen? And then always still this day resounds to me, where I try and do things where if my children were able to see or if my life was ever put on the screen, would my kids be proud? And I try and live my life that way. Wow, great advice, yeah. I want to ask you, Chris, we've all been on teams before. And we know if the coach or the leader is good or bad, what do you think the best leaders do? They listen. They listen before they speak. They need to hear what the employees are feeling and take that into account on how to better the business, establishment, organization, whatever have you. Just listen to employees. Listen to the people that matter. Make them feel important. In my book, I talk about listen first and speak last. And it sounds like that that's what you do a whole lot. I try to. Now, as a parent, what kind of values are you trying to instill in your two daughters? I'm trying to teach them that. Someone had told my children, my kids came home one day and said that your daddy's job is junk. Your daddy doesn't make a lot of money. Such and such his job is better because they make a lot of money. So when my six-year-old, she was six at the time, told me that, and I looked at the 11-year-old and I says, well, I'm going to teach you guys something. It's not about money. Life isn't about money. Yes, I don't make a lot of money. Policemen don't make a lot of money. But it's not about the money. It's about doing something that you enjoy. First of all, you have to enjoy what you do. You have a lot of people who make a lot of money, but do they really enjoy what they do? So what I tell them is that finding a job, whatever it is, make sure you enjoy it. Make sure it brings you happiness. And at the same time, do something positive. And I say, I don't make a lot of money, but I'm trying to do something positive, and I'm happy with what I'm doing. At the end of the day, when you passed away, you're not going to take these tens of millions with you. But the lives that we impact, the legacy that we leave for our children and for other people, that lives on forever. That continues on. The knowledge, it's not about the money. So that's what I'm trying to teach them. I talk about finding your passion. And that's really what it's about. And everyone has to feel like they're finding their passion, finding their greatness, and then really make a difference in society. Contribute to society in a greater way. Don't just take up space. So what do you feel, Chris, is your purpose in life? My purpose in life is just, I think I found it, is just try to better society, better kind of empower the children of Hawaii. With the Student Crime Stoppers program, but not just to be a better human being. Be a positive role model within the community. Do something. Like you said, instead of taking up space, do something. And you're doing that because I see you all over. You're on the news. You're on the pet hooey. You're everywhere. And you are making an impact because, I mean, I know that you're really busy doing what you do. But because you're everywhere and busy, I mean, you're bringing awareness and attention to all of these situations. I mean, it would be great if we can look left and look right and we see police officers all over the place. That's going to make our society even better. Now, what is a future goal of yours personally? What is something that you want to do, but you just haven't done it yet personally? Maybe when they travel. That'll come with retirement later on on the line. Maybe just travel and just kind of see the world. So where? I've always been kind of like a beach ocean type of person. So maybe, oh, I'm all dives. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that'd be cool. I don't know what to eat here. And one of those bungalows overlooking the ocean. Oh, I get that. I want to go too. Chris, before we wrap, I want to ask you one more question. What gives you fulfillment now? It's an easy question. I mean, easy to answer. Easy for me to answer it, so. Any time with them, every moment that I have with them. Sometimes as police officers, we see a lot of negatives. But my children actually see, I mean, my children help me see just the good things. They're always so innocent. And yeah, just spending time with my kids. So every opportunity that I have from my kids, I've shared custody of my kids, but just spending time with them. And something as simple as yesterday, we went to Almona Beach Park, grabbed some poles and some bread. And we're out there just catching some tilapia. Just catching release. But that just gave me so much fulfillment. And that boosts my energy up for the week. So I look forward to times like that. Well, Chris, I appreciate you being on the show today. And sharing your insights. I mean, you are definitely a great dad, a great police officer, and a great coordinator for crime stoppers. Thank you. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you, Heaven. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com. And my book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Sergeant Chris and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.