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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Waipahu police sweep snares dozens

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police in a federally supported "Weed and Seed" program plucked scores of wanted people from a crime-ridden corner of Waipahu in a seven-day warrant sweep this month, officials announced yesterday.

While many typical warrant arrests are made when the wanted person gets stopped for a traffic violation or has other police contact, the Waipahu project set out to track down individuals named in 172 outstanding warrants issued between January and July.

"We were able to pick up persons wanted on exactly half the outstanding warrants," said Police Sgt. Aaron Farias, officer in charge of the three-person detail in a store-front substation in a shopping area at 94-144 Farrington Highway.

The unit had backing from officers from the patrol division and the local crime reduction unit, with teams as large as a dozen at a time in the field during the week ending July 18, Farias said.

The warrant sweep is just part of the "weed," or anti-crime, side of the program, which also focuses on drugs, gangs and other crime in the area.

The "seed" side involves cooperative efforts with business and community leaders to rebuild the area, which had begun to deteriorate partly because of crime, Farias said.

The arrests cleared warrants with bail totaling more than $200,000, including $60,000 for a 26-year-old individual with 32 prior arrests and was wanted for sentencing for auto theft.

Other major warrants cleared in checks of 220 businesses and homes involved probation violation, burglary, assault, dangerous drugs and domestic violence cases, Farias said. Many others were for relatively minor offenses, such as traffic violations, with the lowest bail at $67.

"This is the first of what hopefully will be many regular warrant sweeps," Farias said.

The arrests were made without incident, and some of the individuals who heard they were being sought turned themselves in, Farias said. A few of the wanted people were served warrants in prison or jail.

Many of the individuals who could not be found were reported to have moved from the area, he said.

The Weed and Seed program was set up in September to cover part of the lower west end of Waipahu bound by the H-1 Freeway, Westloch, Kunia Road and a line following Waipahu Depot Road, Waikele Stream and Waipahu Street.

In addition to tackling major crime problems, the Weed and Seed team works on what Farias called "quality of life" issues raised by residents of the area.

These include traffic violations, parking problems and even noisy roosters, he said.

The city also maintains a Weed and Seed program in the Downtown/Kalihi-Palama area.