Through yesterday, Honolulu police have solved all 10 homicides so far this year, exceeding the rate of about 88 percent of homicides that were solved annually from 2005 through last year.

Officials credit the accomplishment to collaboration among investigators, along with community support.

"They know how to cooperate and collaborate," Chief Boisse Correa said of the investigators, "and we have community support in that people here are not afraid to get involved."

Police have closed 48 of 54 homicides since 2005, 18 of 20 in 2007, 17 of 18 in 2006 and 13 of 16 in 2005.

"It has been historically good," Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle said of homicide closures.

In addition to the homicide cases, robbery investigators have solved the 10 bank robberies reported so far this year.

The police homicide unit is supervised by Lt. William Kato, while the bank robbery unit is headed by Lt. Britt Nishijo, who also oversees the supplemental Strategic Enforcement Detail.

Both lieutenants report to Criminal Investigations Division commander Maj. Carlton Nishimura and Capt. Richard Robinson, head of violent crimes investigations.

Carlisle, whose office works with homicide investigators (bank robberies are prosecuted federally), said the case of Masumi Watanabe, who disappeared April 12, 2007, is a good illustration of the investigators' successful approach.

"They establish in almost all instances a good rapport with survivors that couldn't have been more appropriate than in the recent Masumi Watanabe case," Carlisle said.

Kato, in his eighth year of supervising homicide investigators, credits teamwork for the unit's success and cites the conviction of Kirk Lankford for murdering Watanabe as a good example.

"It was a classic whodunnit murder and everything came together because of teamwork — homicide detectives and missing persons finding bits and pieces," Kato said.

Detectives working the Feb. 28, 2007, murder of Linda Hannon, 56, near a fishpond at Kahana Bay had interviewed her boyfriend "John," who called Detective Randal Nakamura and provided the license number of a truck driven a suspicious person he had encountered. Kirk Lankford was the owner of the truck.

Officer Phil Camaro, of the missing person's unit, was working the Watanabe case and had told Kato he had a "bad feeling" about finding the woman alive. The only other time Camaro had ever expressed a "bad feeling" was in December of 2002 when he was searching for 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal, who wasn't found alive, Kato recalled.

The break in the Watanabe case came on a Monday morning when Nakamura brought a driver's license photo of Lankford to a meeting and Camaro recognized Lankford as the driver of a Hauoli Pest Control truck he had interviewed for his missing person case.

Within a few days, Detective Sheryl Sunia had video surveillance tapes from Pupukea Foodland showing Lankford buying garbage bags, paper towels and Clorox spray. Evidence collected led to Lankford's conviction for murder, although Watanabe's body has not been recovered.

Criminal Investigations is blessed with good, experienced investigators who know how to process a scene, Nishimura said.

Nishimura cited the work of robbery Detective Deena Thoemmes as an example of how paying attention to details led to charges being filed against a suspect.

In processing a crime scene, Thoemmes learned fingerprints were recovered from a countertop. Thoemmes did not rely solely on video surveillance and the teller to identify a suspect in a photo lineup and when the teller could not positively identify the suspect, charges were filed because of the fingerprint evidence, Nishimura said.

Nishimura added that investigators work closely with patrol officers and other units, such as Criminal Intelligence. But it's the ability to communicate, he feels, that makes the biggest difference.

"They are really able to get people to talk to them and provide information," he said.