No grade for Lawai, but its recorded crime is here
Urban Honolulu, 114 miles away, is the nearest town with a Safety Grade (C+). Lawai has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Kauai County. The Kauai Police Department reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Lawai alone, and no Safety Grade.
What stands out about safety in Lawai
Policed by the county
Lawai is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Kauai Police Department’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Kauai Police Department covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Lawai. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Hawaii towns with their own police figures are Urban Honolulu (C+, 114 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Lawai. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Kauai Police Department reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Kauai County without police of their own, which include Lawai.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Kauai Police Department
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest Hawaii towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban Honolulu | C+ | 114 mi | 1.8 | 17.1 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Lawai. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Lawai.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
One person died in crashes on Lawai’s roads in 2019–2023
Lawai had 1 fatal crash in five years, in which one person died.
That is about what is typical for Hawaii towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (6.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Lawai’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Lawai’s own rate (7.4) is context, not a ranking.
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.
Lawai and its neighbors
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Omao and Kalaheo are unincorporated communities (census-designated places) with no police department of their own.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
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 Lawai
Is Lawai, HI safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Lawai. The nearest Hawaii towns with a grade are Urban Honolulu (C+, 114 mi).
Who polices Lawai?
The Kauai Police Department. Lawai is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Kauai County without police of their own.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Lawai.
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.