Thieves broke into an off-duty police major's car yesterday while it was parked at Ala Moana Beach Park, taking the officer's gun and wallet.

Officers recovered the gun yesterday afternoon in another part of the island, police department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said.

It was the third time in the past 16 months that a Honolulu police officer's gun was stolen from their car. In each of the cases, the weapons were recovered.

Yu declined to identify the officer in yesterday's case by name, saying only that an "officer with 30 years of experience" had his weapon stolen.

The Advertiser learned the officer is Maj. Thomas T. Nitta Jr.

Yu also declined to say how police located Nitta's gun.

No one was arrested in connection with the theft.

"Department policy requires that firearms be secured and in this case the gun was secured and there are no plans for an (internal) investigation," Yu said.

Nitta's Toyota SUV was parked at Ala Moana Beach Park when it was broken into shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday.

Nitta returned to his car and immediately reported the stolen weapon.

Police last year recovered officers' weapons in two other car break ins.

They determined that an off-duty officer whose gun, uniform, badge, belt and radio were stolen from his car on April 19, 2006 did not violate their standards of conduct for securing police equipment.

In that case, officer Taase Faumui was walking to get gasoline after his car stalled near the Honouliuli wastewater treatment plant when thieves broke into his white 1996 Dodge Neon.

Faumui had secured the items in his car before leaving, but thieves were able to locate his equipment, police said.

The thief took Faumui's loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun, two magazines filled with 15 rounds each, his badge, his utility belt, his police radio and his uniform.

Faumui's gun and some ammunition were later recovered. The department rendered the radio inoperable.

On Oct. 24, 2006, Garret Carreira, 38, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition after he was found with a gun, ammunition and handcuffs stolen from a police officer. The items had been stolen two days earlier from the officer's car, which was parked at his home.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.