Hiding crime hurts tourism, city told

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city has fewer purse-snatchings on the beach, and less prostitution and vendors on the streets of Waikiki than a few years ago, City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle told a conference on tourism crime. But he called the theft rate "appalling." Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Yet, victims of violent crime often develop close bonds with Hawai'i through the efforts of hotels, airlines, restaurants, police and prosecutors that help with accommodations and travel back to the Islands for prosecution, Carlisle said.

"You don't try to shove it under the rug. You don't try to give it spin," he said. "You simply try to help."

Carlisle's comments came as part of a day-long conference that included about 100 security and tourism representatives. Keynote speaker Peter Tarlow, CEO of Tourism and More Consulting, also spoke about the negative effects that crime and terrorism can have for cities that rely on tourism.

"It costs $100 worth of advertising to counter every $1 lost from negative publicity," Tarlow said before his speech.

Cities need to prepare by training police before a well-publicized crime or terrorist attack happens, he said.

"People love police when they're well-trained and offer good service," he said. "It's cheaper to think out of the box and be creative than it is to react to a negative event."

Yesterday's conference followed much larger ones in 1997 and 1998 with a more urgent tone. At that time, Japanese tourists were targets of organized drive-by purse snatchings, "prostitution was out of control" and visitors were frequent targets of thefts on Waikiki beaches, said Jim Fulton, spokesman for the city prosecutor's office.

"Because of the atmosphere of lack of enforcement, the concerns of the Japanese visitors and the concerns of the visitor industry, we knew that if we didn't take care of things we'd have big problems," Fulton said.

Yesterday's, Carlisle talked about the city's success in clearing Waikiki sidewalks of T-shirt vendors, peddlers and prostitutes. The city is now looking for ways to deal with street performers and solicitors who use birds as photo props. Several issues have yet to be resolved in regulating the groups, Carlisle said.

"There is no law, and there is no coherent policy" regarding street performers, Carlisle said. "Should we regulate them or criminalize them?"

City officials want to hear from tourism and security officials, he said.

Officials also may consider expanding programs that help victims of violent crime to include Honolulu's growing theft problem, Carlisle said.

Victims have been brought back to testify from as far away as Australia and Paris, he said, and the same practice may need to be implemented for less serious crimes. Otherwise, he said, violence may increase.

"Our theft rates are appalling," Carlisle said. "If we don't get property crime under control, then we are going to have violent crimes."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.