Kailua seeks increase in police
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — The neighborhood board is alarmed at the community's soaring property crime rate and wants more police officers on its streets as well as more emphasis on public safety, even if it means raising taxes.
For the year to date compared with last year, auto thefts in Kailua are up 55 percent, burglaries are up 42 percent and theft from vehicles are up 21 percent, according to police.
An ad hoc committee of the Kailua Neighborhood Board has been studying the problem and will present its recommendations at a meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Kailua District Park Multipurpose Room.
The recommendation will include asking the mayor and City Council to make public safety a priority and to budget accordingly, board chairwoman Kathy Bryant-Hunter said.
"If necessary, we need to be looking at raising property taxes if we can't make our community safe with the resources we have," Bryant-Hunter said.
Overall, crime in Hawai'i is gradually increasing after four years of declines between 1995 and 1999. Property crime was up 4 percent last year across O'ahu, and the increase is expected to be bigger this year, police have said.
The committee studying the issue in Kailua believes the increased crime is related to drug use, the growing popularity of Windward beaches among tourists and local residents — many of the crimes are taking place there — and understaffing in police District 4, said Harold Falk Jr., who heads the panel.
District 4 is allotted about 180 personnel, but about 16 slots, or nearly 9 percent, are vacant, Falk said. Additional staff is also away on special assignment, further reducing the number of officers in the community, he said.
Police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said the department is experiencing a shortage because of the inability to recruit qualified officers.
Lt. Andrew Speese, at the Kailua police station, said of the 22 beats in District 4 from Makapu'u to Kawela Bay, only 16 to 18 are staffed every day. Normally one officer would staff one beat.
Vacations, sick leave and personal leave also add to the problem, Speese said, adding that officers must often cover more than one beat.
The Kailua board's resolution will ask the Honolulu Police Department to augment District 4 with more officers and will include a budget request for more police in the district as well as more personnel in the prosecuting attorney's office, Falk said.
"We're asking them to pull people from somewhere else, put them (in Kailua) to give us a hand now in bringing this to a halt," Falk said. "And to keep it low, authorize more personnel for District 4."
Falk said he believes the city should not only pay more but relieve police from noncrime-related duties such as attending to faulty alarms at businesses.
The board plans to ask the Legislature to look at the criminal justice system, including drug rehabilitation and prevention programs and prison crowding, he said.
Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle said criminals are not deterred from crime because they don't suffer consequences. Jail terms, if imposed, are shortened because of a lack of prison facilities, he said.
The solution to the problem is multifaceted, involving coordination with police, prosecutors, judges and having enough prison space with the will to keep criminals in prison, Carlisle said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
