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The dramatic case is among the latest examples of the impact female officers are having on the Honolulu Police Department since former officer Lucile Abreu challenged the department's discriminatory practices more than 20 years ago.

While few female police recruits are told the significance of Abreu's hard-won fight, those in the know celebrate the victory as theirs.

"When I see her, I get a lump in my throat," said Sunia. "She went through so much. We aren't there yet, but what we have, we owe to her."

When Abreu was promoted to detective in the Criminal Investigation Division in 1975, there were fewer than 15 women on the 1,500-member force.

The number has since grown to 149 - about 8 percent of the 1,786 sworn officers.

The female officers include a major, a captain, five lieutenants, 15 sergeants and 17 detectives. But it's not enough, said Police Chief Michael Nakamura.

"Ideally, I would want it to be a lot higher than that," said Nakamura, who had hoped the figure would reach 25 percent by now.

Opportunities for women on the police force today are unlimited, he said.

Meanwhile, women have infiltrated the solo bike detail, narcot ics/vice, and specialized services - divisions at one time considered to be "all-male."

Major Barbara Wong, the highest-ranking female officer in the department, heads the Traffic Division.

Lt. Karen Kaniho heads the family violence unit and hostage negotiating team.

And former solo bike officer Deborah Wilson is now a sergeant in the traffic investigation section.

But the changes have not come easily for the women. "They've had to try harder," Nakamura admits. "There's the extra responsibility and pressure to do better than their male peers because they're women."

Detective Margot Tang
Detective Margot Tang, coordinator of the CrimeStoppers program, has seen the changes first hand. She remembers earlier attitudes when she was a cadet in the 74th recruit class.

"There were still a lot of questions on men's minds whether women could really do the job," she said. Now, 18 years later, "I feel I'm respected and they trust me to do a good job."

Officer Lugene Simeona, two months out of the police academy, sees an even bigger challenge winning over female officers who have been in the department longer than she has.

"They don't fully trust me yet because they don't know what I'm fully capable of," Simeona said.

But since hitting the streets of downtown Honolulu in February, Simeona feels her fellow male officers have accepted her.

As the only female officer on the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. watch in Central Honolulu, Simeona has performed "up to the standards set by the program," said her training officer, Wayne Anno, who has worked alongside women while in the military.

The support she and fellow female cadets received during their 6-month training at the police academy has not diminished, Simeona said.

"They're no different from the men," said Officer Craig Miki, who graduated from the same recruit class in January. "They didn't want any special treatment, they didn't get any special treatment and they performed just as well as we did, if not better."

To her surprise, she was given the Best Athlete award at her recruit class' graduation ceremonies in January. Based on overall performance in physical strength, driving skills and arrest control tactics, Simeona received the highest score in her class - believed to be the first female in HPD's history to receive the award, said Jean Motoyama, department spokeswoman.

Simeona believes a new system in which recruits are scored based on age and gender gave both men and women a chance to achieve this distinction.

Still, remnants of the old attitudes toward women and their abilities remain.

"It's not to say there isn't resistance - I'd be naive to say there isn't any," said Nakamura. "But we need to overcome those archaic mindsets."

State Rep. Annelle Amaral, a former Honolulu police officer, left the department with a bitter aftertaste.

"Although we were women, we were expected to act like men," she said.

Amaral said the first five women officers "endured treatment ... from fellow officers, commanders, people who called you ugly names, that I have never experienced since."

For 17-year veteran Detective Tracy Griffin, some old-timers in the department seem to be more accepting of women than some officers who haven't been on the force as long. She's the only female among HPD's four polygraph examiners.

Entrance requirements for entry-level officers were the same for both males and females when Kaniho joined in 1978. But although she was quick to notice when her male counterparts in Waikiki were being asked to work in Waianae and she wasn't - it wasn't a big deal, she said. Waianae back

then already had a reputation for being a "rough" area and besides, she had been born and raised there.

But women were still considered a "novelty," Kaniho said. "It's been a slow process, but the department's come a long way."

While working in the narcotics/vice division for several years, her superiors realized women were invaluable in infiltrating drug groups and surveillance, said Kaniho, head hostage negotiator who led her teams through three hostage situations in less than a month this year.

In patrol, the presence of female officers and their communication skills have helped in tense, domestic situations, said Lt. Bill Kato, who oversees four female detectives. "It used to be women were always stuck with the jobs they think women should be doing - now they're everywhere - there's a good balance."