City drivers license office slowly recovering from machete wielding robbers

"What occurred on Friday was a very big shake up for staff. We did have an armed robbery in the Commercial Driver's License office. That occurred at 2:30, about a half hour before closing time. It did leave staff very traumatized," said Customer Service Director Sheri Kajiwara.

This week the city hired a security guard as an added safeguard for workers and staff. Workers said the robbers who were wearing white masks, ran toward the Halawa Housing project. The office was closed Monday.

Customers who came down on Monday came back Tuesday, only to find out services were very limited. This was Joshua's Grace first visit .

"I came to get a permit, but I was turned away," said Grace.

He also learned access into the office was being tightly controlled.

"You can't just walk in to the office I was told you had to wait outside they were only taking one person at a time. Another gentleman told me the computers were down to do any kind of testing at all," said Grace.

A West Oahu Aggregate driver rushed down to take a test for a special certification to handle hazardous material. He was told to come back again.

"Kind of bummed out. Now I got to figure out the time and effort to come back here take off from work like that," said Oliver Kudera.

Kudera said he might try again next week when staffing in the five-person office is back to normal. Back-up clerks weren't able to get into computers and registers Tuesday because of security clearance issues.

"We are in the process of getting those people cleared through the federal regulations, the cashiering process, the fiscal and budget procedures. That has to be done," said Kajuwara.

Kajiwara assures no sensitive information from customers was breached.

"They did not touch our computers they did not access our system. They accessed our cash registers and took money from there," said Kajiwara.

"We ask the public to be patient. We apologize for the inconvenience, but I support my clerks as best I can. We will try and get services back as soon as possible," said Kajiwara.

Truckers and bus drivers are being asked to call ahead of time before heading down to the office.