Illegal dumping continues despite patrol effort
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — The first two weeks of patrols intended to discourage illegal dumping on Kapa'a Quarry Road — an area notorious for the activity — show how difficult the job is going to be.
• Visit the Kapa'a Quarry Road holiday store in the Kailua Daiei's parking lot between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Dec. 27. • Mail name, telephone number and address to Windward Ahupua'a Alliance, P.O. Box 1013, Kailua, HI 97634. • Or sign up by e-mailing information to waa@hoku.com.
So far, no dumpers have been caught, and dumping continues when the patrols are not on duty.
To volunteer
For organizers of the program, which uses donations from residents and businesses to pay off-duty police officers to patrol the area at times considered prime for dumping, the results have been frustrating.
"Trash continues to build up," said John King, organizer of the police patrols for the Bust-A-Dumper campaign. "It seems like we just clean up a place so they could dump it there. It's depressing."
The program, with its emphasis on enforcement and prosecution to curb illegal dumping, is considered a bellwether, and the degree of its success could help determine whether similar efforts will be employed elsewhere.
Lt. Guy Cobb-Adams said he has patrolled the road several times and has caught no one in the act of dumping, which is necessary for an arrest or citation.
"Police have seen suspicious characters," King said, adding that the patrols seem to scare would-be dumpers away. "Our efforts are not totally unrewarded."
The off-duty officers patrol four times a week, and the schedules are varied to keep dumpers off guard, King said. The officers patrol with and without the blue police light on their cars, King said. The plan is to prosecute anyone caught, he said.
The Kapa'a Quarry Road Working Group, made up of area businesses, property owners and concerned citizens, initiated the campaign in October after conducting numerous cleanups only to have people dump in the same spot.
The group raised $15,000 from local businesses and residents to pay for the patrols and received $7,000 in grants to fight the problem. The money is enough to finance four months of patrols.
Residents also will be trained to patrol the road, but not to confront illegal dumpers, said Shannon Wood, a member of the group. Citizen patrols will be taught to identify offenders, take license numbers and record the trash that is left.
About a dozen people have signed up, but 20 are needed, Wood said.
King said the dumping is especially frustrating because most of the trash people leave on the side of the road can be taken to the city's transfer station on Kapa'a Quarry Road.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
