by Renelaine Bontol Pfister
The Hawaiʻi State Department of Law Enforcement (DLE) received the 2025 Western States Information Network (WSIN) Agency of the Year award.
The WSIN region includes Hawaiʻi, California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, as well as Canada, New Zealand, and Guam.
According to Jared K. Redulla, who is Deputy Director for Law Enforcement, the DLE was created in 2024 to centralize law enforcement functions in the state government.
“The DLE also administers statewide programs to ensure public safety, safeguard state property, and enforce laws. Additionally, the department is responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of a comprehensive Homeland Security program for the state,” he shared.
As for his role as Deputy Director, Redulla explained that he administers all “the DLE’s law enforcement operations, including law enforcement support for the Hawaii Judiciary, providing law enforcement and protection at Hawaii’s airports and seaports, narcotics enforcement, criminal investigations, and providing law enforcement services to all state buildings, facilities, and properties.”
A graduate of the 251st session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, Redulla grew up in Kalihi, Honolulu, in a Filipino household that valued hard work and faith.
His Filipino grandparents lived next door to their house, and his great-grandmother lived in a house in front. He feels “very fortunate to have learned very traditional cultural values from them.”
He recalls his grandmother working at Dole Cannery and his Filipino great-grandmother taking care of the household chores while his parents worked. His father was a truck driver, and his mother was a waitress.
He commends his family for their hard work, which they instilled in him. His family frequented the church in Kalihi, and he attributes this to “the beginnings of a strong moral compass for my career in law enforcement,” he remarked.
After graduating from Kamehameha High School in 1990, he attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he worked weekends for the State of Hawaii as a radio dispatcher for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Redulla said, “That experience would unlock a future in law enforcement for me.”
After a year at UH Manoa, he moved and studied at Colorado State University, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in Sociology in 1994.
Meanwhile, he remained connected to DLNR, working during summer breaks for them. After graduating from college, DLNR hired him as a volunteer reserve conservation law enforcement officer.
His next positions include being a harbor police officer with the Department of Transportation, then a full-time conservation officer with the Department of Land and Natural Resources. In 2004, he worked as a plainclothes criminal investigator for the City and County of Honolulu, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.
In 2006, he became a narcotics agent with the Hawaii Narcotics Enforcement Division, was promoted to supervisor of a narcotics squad in 2011, and then Chief of the Narcotics Enforcement Division in 2016.
He remained in this role until December 2023, when he was appointed as Deputy Director for the Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement.
When asked what the WSIN Agency of the Year award means to the whole team at DLE, Redulla replied:
“It is an honor. Receiving the award validates the hard work of every employee in the Department, and the award represents excellence in law enforcement. I am proud of all our employees who work hard for the community every day.”
Hard work and faith are evident in Redulla’s career and life, but in addition to that, there is also humility. He shines the spotlight on Hawaii DLE’s hard-working employees.
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