Waikiki residents are raising concerns about recent late-night fights, mostly outside nightclubs, and want police to do more to stop the violence.

Several residents say the fights and unprovoked attacks don't just involve clubgoers, but innocent bystanders. And they fear the problem could get worse and even hurt tourism.

"We should have a friendly, safe environment for everybody 24 hours a day," said Bob Finley, chairman of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, which took up the issue of club fights last night. "Is there a simple answer? No."

Several victims of recent violence have come to the neighborhood board for help, or have contacted community leaders. One man said he was walking people to their car after a gathering of colleagues and was jumped by a group of drunken men. He was beaten up but not hospitalized.

Dale Evans, the president of Charley's Taxi, raised concerns after she was chased by a man one night. Evans was able to get away when a group of runners stopped the man.

"I dread walking in Waikiki anymore," Evans said in an e-mail to Waikiki residents talking about the issue this week.

"Waikiki is scary."

The violence has further been pushed into the spotlight following the airing on a local news station of a video that shows a man knocking out another man outside a Waikiki nightclub. The injured man was out for several minutes.

He declined to make a statement to police, officials said.

The suspect is being sought.

Police could not say whether fights and attacks outside bars, or violent crimes in general, are on the rise in Waikiki this year. The most recent statistics give a mixed picture.

In 2006, the latest numbers available, there were 144 arrests for aggravated assault in Waikiki, compared with 90 a year earlier. But robberies, rapes and auto thefts were down in 2006 from the year before. And overall, the number of major crimes reported in Waikiki fell by 362 in 2006, to 3,771.

Police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said that misdemeanor and felony assaults have remained steady in Waikiki over the past three years. Still, police are taking recent fights seriously and will listen to concerns.

Yu said there are about three dozen officers on duty in Waikiki at any one time, including plainclothes police. That number is much higher than in other communities.

Meanwhile, police say there don't appear to be any common threads among the recent assaults and fights outside nightclubs. But residents partly blame the smoking ban in clubs, which means people go outside to light up.

While outside, residents contend, people start fights.

Laura Millman, a Waikiki resident for 47 years, said something needs to be done before it becomes impossible for people to feel safe walking at night. Already, Millman said, she and others avoid going out at night because of fear.

"There is a serious problem in Waikiki for residents as well as the visitors," Millman said. "It's just a bad situation."

SECURITY CAMERAS

Millman suggested more security cameras go up in Waikiki, and Finley said he has talked to the city about the possibility. Cameras are costly to install, though, and require volunteers to monitor them and alert police about incidents.

Finley said another possibility is more police presence. But he acknowledged there are only so many officers who could work in Waikiki, and added police also are being pressured to crack down on prostitution in Waikiki and violations of pedestrian laws.

Walt Flood, vice chairman of the board, said another problem is that victims don't always come forward, which means it is difficult to arrest and prosecute people.

He said he understands the difficulty police encounter.

But Flood asked whether police could do more.

"We don't think the police are responding" strongly enough to the problem, he said. "They don't arrest anybody."

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.