Wai'anae concerned about police shuffle
By James Gonser
Advertiser Leeward Bureau
KAPOLEI — As the Honolulu Police Department moves forward with a plan to create a new police district by splitting the Wai'anae Coast from Kapolei and 'Ewa Beach, residents worry that police coverage in the high-crime area will get worse with the change rather than better.
District 8 commander Maj. Alan Fujimoto said Police Chief Lee Donohue wants to create the new district, and a committee is meeting weekly to plan the change and to look into other possible shifts of police districts on O'ahu.
Fujimoto said he will request more staffing in fiscal year 2002 for officers to form District 9, which would separate the Wai'anae Coast from the rest of District 8.
"The committee is looking (to determine) if the number of beats we now have is adequate," Fujimoto said. "We are looking at population growth, response time for the officers and so on. The chief could move personnel around if he really wanted to get the district up and running quickly. But if you move them to one area, you hurt another."
District 8 encompasses the Wai'anae Coast, Makakilo, the 'Ewa plain and Kapolei. The Kapolei police station opened in July 2000 and is the second-largest police facility on O'ahu. The Wai'anae substation provides a base of operations for personnel patrolling the coast and would become the headquarters for the new district.
Cynthia Rezentes, chairwoman of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board, said after initially thinking a new Wai'anae district might benefit the community, she has reconsidered and wants more information about what changes it would bring. She said a recent rash of crimes including robberies, burglaries and even murder has stretched police resources on the coast to the limit.
"I don't have enough information to believe it will help us, since I continue to see resources siphoned off or assigned to other what I would consider less critical duties," Rezentes said.
According to police statistics, the department had an average 2.3 officers per 1,000 residents islandwide last year. District 8, which has about 90,000 residents, has positions for 198 officers, but some spots are vacant, Fujimoto said. Even if fully staffed, the district would be nine officers shy of the island average.
The Wai'anae Coast has 42,259 residents, according to the 2000 Census, but the number of officers assigned specifically to the coast was not immediately available.
Of violent crimes reported in the eight police districts in 2000, District 8 had the most murders (5), negligent homicides (10), rapes (39) and aggravated assaults (188). The number of burglaries in District 8 was surpassed only by District 3, which covers the area from Red Hill to Village Park and Waipahu.
The majority of those District 8 crimes, except the murders, took place on Wai'anae Coast beats, according to statistics.
Police spokesman Brandon Stone said simply counting the number of officers assigned to a district does not represent how well an area is served because many other officers, such as homicide detectives and criminal investigators, will work in an area when needed but won't be shown as assigned to that area.
Stone said the primary reason to form a new district is to keep the commanders' workloads at reasonable levels and to allow them to interact well with the community.
Forming a new district will not change the response time for people making 911 calls because police are constantly on patrol in any given community, Stone said.
"It has nothing to do with where the facilities are located," Stone said. "You call the police and there is a cop out there near you anyway."
Rezentes said she doesn't know of anyone on the neighborhood board who supports the new district plan and would like to have a presentation detailing the benefits in terms of numbers of officers, police activities and improved facilities.
"The most consistent comment I heard was that Wai'anae would get left in the dust when that happens and we would get all of the leftovers/discards while Kapolei would get all the good stuff," she said. "There is also a feeling that it would isolate the area even more ."
Stone said details will be presented to the public before the change goes into effect.
Meanwhile, Fujimoto said an additional 10 police officers will be assigned to the Kapolei police station Aug. 12 and the unused cellblock at the $12.8 million facility will be opened by the end of the month.
The station has not been fully operational because of a shortage of officers and some of the 43 cells will not be used, but the receiving desk will be open as soon as the officers are trained, Fujimoto said.
The three-story, 50,598-square-foot structure on Kamokila Boulevard is home to several district divisions, including burglary/theft, juvenile services, narcotics/vice and criminal investigations. The cellblock is in the basement and can hold up to 90 prisoners.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 988-1383.
