"If we catch the student who belongs in school before they have the opportunity to commit the crimes while they're cutting class ... it's really better for the students ... and it's better for the community," said community prosecutor Cecilia Chang.

Weed & Seed is a coordinated crime reduction partnership by law enforcement, social services and community groups and supported by the federal government.

Like all Weed & Seed efforts, the truancy sweeps are a coordinated effort that bring in police, the attorney general's office, the prosecutor's office and the courts, as well as the schools. Because of all the coordination, the sweeps are done only twice a year.

"Truancy is not something that HPD would generally focus on, but when we went to the schools, they seemed to say that truancy was one of their major problems," said community prosecutor Tana Kekina-Cabaniero.

There are no plans to expand the truancy sweeps, Kekina-Cabaniero said, but, "If it's something that a school wants to do, and there's a truancy problem and a related juvenile crime problem in the area, we would be willing to work with other schools in the area."

No definitive numbers are available on truancy in the state or nation because schools track absences differently, but educators and law-enforcement officials say it is a persistent problem and among the leading indicators that a student will eventually drop out of school or get involved with drugs and alcohol or crime.

According to Kekina-Cabaniero, the only way the sweeps can be effective is if the schools have a penalty for students caught skipping class.

"It's not just to bring them back to school, but to have some follow-up consequences and keep them in school," she said.

Waipahu High School principal Pat Pedersen said students brought in by police — whether through Weed & Seed or by any officer — are sent to a Saturday School Attendance Program with their parents.

Chronic truants, however, might have to go to family court, and that's where the attorney general's office comes in.

Deputy Attorney General Kris Murakami, who works in the family law division, deals with many of the truants caught during the Weed & Seed sweeps who have missed months of school.

Last year, she helped put 165 truants under court supervision to try to get them back to school.

Students who fail to do so could face going to a detention home, although that is the last resort.

"I wouldn't say it's rare, but more often than not the courts try to avoid doing something like this," Murakami said.

Even court supervision works only so well. "The trend usually is that the student may have a honeymoon period just before the hearing and will attend school for a two-week period," she said. After the hearing, however, "usually what happens is the pattern of truant behavior starts to continue again. It doesn't have a long-lasting effect."

Pedersen, a big fan of the Weed & Seed effort, said she would like to see the truancy sweeps occur more frequently, since having 27 students brought in during the last sweep made little impact in the school of 2,400.

However, she points out that police bring in students whenever they catch them out and about without a pass.

And she is encouraged by the small number of truants who are brought in. "Maybe that's a good thing," she said. "They're here (in school) where they are supposed to be."