Beach patrols may deter crime
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu police have some targeted manpower this year that they hope will put a dent in crimes against visitors just in time for the heavy summer travel season.
Photos by Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
First, the department created a task force of six officers who patrol Waikiki beaches seven days a week during daylight hours.
Officers David Shabaz, left, and Roosevelt Blanco patrol Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki as part of the police department's stepped-up efforts to deter crime against tourists. The extra manpower comes as the annual swell of visitors to O'ahu is surging.
"We started the program a couple of weeks ago. We have had patrols in the past as manpower allowed, but we have them every day now," said Police Lt. David Eber, who has worked the Waikiki police district for the past 12 years and has seen the throngs of visitors who flock to the beaches each summer. And he knows the beach rip-off artists will be right behind them.
"They lurk in the shadows and scan the beach, just waiting for someone to go into the water and leave their valuables unattended for 45 minutes or an hour," Eber said.
Waikiki visitors also will be watched over, at least for the time being, by 60 to 80 recent graduates of the police officer training academy who are walking a beat for the first time.
The extra manpower comes just as the annual swell of visitors to O'ahu arrives, bringing with it crimes against tourists, police and tourism officials say.
Rising occupancy rates at Waikiki hotels have historically gone hand-in-hand with an increase in beach thefts and car break-ins, the two most common crimes visitors are likely to run into here.
"There most definitely is a correlation between the increased number of visitors to Hawai'i during the summer and the number of (crime) problems they encounter," said Jessica Lani Rich, president and executive director of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai'i.
The nonprofit agency steps in to try to take some of the sting out of what otherwise would be a bitter experience for visitors who fall prey to criminals or have other unpleasant experiences while on vacation here.
Police hope the beach patrols will be a deterrent, and so far they seem to be working.
"We would have at least one beach theft case a day before the patrols started and often times would have as many as three or four cases a day," Eber said. "Now, we're down to maybe a case or less per day, and I know of no days since the program began where we've had three or four cases reported."
Eber said the new graduates who have temporarily been assigned to the area not only will help protect visitors, they're also gaining valuable experience to take with them once they're assigned to other parts of the island.
"Waikiki is conducive to walking a beat. It is a very defined geographic area and has a high density," he said.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
That results in a lot of experience in a short amount of time for the new officers, he said. But he expects most of them to be transferred to other districts "in the next few weeks."
Officer David Shabaz wrote out a parking ticket on Kalakaua Avenue while on patrol in Waikiki yesterday. Officers assigned to beach patrols are also keeping an eye out for thefts and car break-ins, the two most common crimes against tourists during the summer months.
Alice and Hank Scherer, of Duluth, Minn., said becoming a crime victim during their weeklong vacation here never crossed their minds.
"We saw the warning in the rental car that says we shouldn't leave our valuables in the car or the trunk, even if it is locked," Alice, 46, said while peering out at the ocean at Waikiki Beach.
Her husband said he realizes "Honolulu is a big city" and has its "crime problems, just like everywhere else."
But the two said they would not let concerns about crime detract from their first visit to Hawai'i.
Doreen Brooks, 34, a legal secretary from Houston, Texas, is winding up her third visit to Hawai'i and said she has never had a problem here.
But on Monday, when she stopped at Makapu'u Lookout, she pulled up next to a distraught-looking young couple whose rented Jeep had been broken into.
"It's concerning, but I try not to let it keep me from enjoying Hawai'i as much as I do," Brooks said.
She said when she goes to the beach, she makes a "conscious effort" not to bring anything of value.
"I take a straw beach mat, a towel, maybe some sunscreen if I remember to and my flip-flops — that's it," Brooks said.
Already, the Visitor Aloha Society has seen an increase in the calls for help.
During the first two weeks of June, the society came to the aid of 61 tourists on O'ahu, 44 of whom were crime victims, according to statistics kept by the organization. Assistance was provided to 18 people who had personal items taken from their cars, seven people who were the victims of burglaries during their vacations here and four who lost their belongings to thieves.
"If I could give just one bit of advice to our visitors coming here on things to avoid, it would be to check into their hotels and their rooms first instead of stopping first at various scenic spots like the Pali Lookout or the Blowhole," Rich said. "We have a lot of very romantic spots and newlyweds, in particular, want to see a lot of those places first thing after they arrive here."
Some visitors are so enamored with Hawai'i's natural splendor, they tend to let down their guard and leave rental cars unlocked with suitcases, cameras and even purses in plain view — an open invitation to thieves to help themselves, Rich said.
The Visitor Aloha Society helped 275 visitor crime victims on O'ahu from June through August last year and 570 crime victims the summer before. During both of those summer seasons, car break-ins led the list of crimes committed against tourists with beach thefts coming in a distant second.
Statistics show that visitor arrivals hovered around 550,000 per month last year but jumped to around 650,000 during the summer months.
"You can tell it's summertime just by the number of people who are on the (Waikiki) beaches," he said.
Reach David Waite at 525-7412 or dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com
