Waiakea Mission Station-Hilo Station · Photo: W Nowicki · CC BY 3.0Who polices Hilo, and what they report
Hilo has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Hawaii County. The Hawaii Police Department reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Hilo alone, and no Safety Grade.
What stands out about safety in Hilo
Policed by the county
Hilo is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Hawaii Police Department’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Hawaii Police Department covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Hilo. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Hawaii towns with their own police figures are Urban Honolulu (C+, 212 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Hilo. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Hawaii Police Department reports
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Hawaii County without police of their own, which include Hilo.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Hawaii Police Department
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
The nearest Hawaii towns with a Safety Grade
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban Honolulu | C+ | 212 mi | 1.8 | 17.1 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Hilo. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Hilo.
19 people died in crashes on Hilo’s roads in 2019–2023
Hilo had 19 fatal crashes in five years, in which 19 people died; 4 were pedestrians and 3 were cyclists.
That is 7.5 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for Hawaii towns of 25,000–100,000 people (4.3, 9 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Hilo and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Hilo
Is Hilo, HI safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Hilo. Hilo has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Hawaii County. The Hawaii Police Department reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Hilo alone, and no Safety Grade. The nearest Hawaii towns with a grade are Urban Honolulu (C+, 212 mi).
Who polices Hilo?
The Hawaii Police Department. Hilo is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Hawaii County without police of their own.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Hilo.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.