Fewer Oahu homes burgled

Burglaries on Oahu dipped to a 30-year low last year, following local and national trends of declining crime.

In 2015 there were 4,135 burglaries on Oahu — down from 5,760 five years ago and 10,127 two decades ago, according to preliminary numbers for 2015 compiled by the Honolulu Police Department.

Final statistics for 2015 will not be ready for some time, but preliminary numbers provide a rough glimpse of where the final tally will sit.

Police Chief Louis Kealoha said fighting home burglaries is a priority for the department because such crimes are among the most frightening of all property crimes for citizens.

“Having your car stolen or your office vandalized is terrible, but having your personal residence broken into leaves you feeling unsafe in your own home,” he said in an email. “We know this and that’s why we’ve focused on reducing residential burglaries.”

The drop is attributed, in part, to the forging of crime prevention strategies and community partnerships.

Janet Davidson, an associate professor of criminology at Chaminade University, said the drop in local and national crime statistics may be related to “intelligence-led” policing but said further study is needed. She describes intelligence-led policing as a strategy of compiling data and research to guide police practices.

“Rather than randomly patrolling the streets, which has proven ineffective at reducing crime, police might use data to identify hot spots and engage in targeted patrol,” she said in an email. “It’s really all about smarter rather than harder policing.”

She said Hawaii’s changing demographics might also reduce crime because young people are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime, she said. According to the U.S. Census, the statewide count of residents younger than age 34 decreased by about 3 percent from 2000 to 2010.

“With a lower percentage of the population in the crime-prone years, we expect to see less crime,” she said.

Kealoha credits the department’s partnerships with the community and better intelligence for the decrease in burglaries.

“We’ve always said that the police alone can’t prevent or reduce crime, and we are grateful to the many citizens who volunteer for their neighborhood security watches, attend resident association meetings, and call 911 when they see suspicious activity,” he said. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of the public’s involvement in addressing not just burglaries but all crimes.”

He said Honolulu Police Department is also compiling better intelligence and sharing it better within the department through its crime analysis unit, which identifies hot spots and target areas for patrol districts.

Meanwhile, some community members said the statistics don’t coincide with their perception of the matter.

“I think we’ve had an increase here in Kailua,” said Chuck Prentiss, chairman of the Kailua Neighborhood Board, adding that even if the numbers have declined, there’s a perception that burglaries are up.

“People here are pretty much up in arms about it,” he said. And the nature of burglaries seems to be changing, with more of them apparently being committed while a resident is at home, causing residents to worry about being injured or killed in a burglary.

“It seems like there’s been more of that kind of a burglary, a home invasion type of thing,” he said. “That puts a lot of fear into people.”

Maj. Ryan Borges, commander of the Windward Oahu district, said the department’s crime analysis unit will notify district supervisors when there’s a spike in crime in their district. Supervisors can then develop strategies, such as flooding an area with officers in an effort to catch suspects and put a damper on the criminal activity.

He also said his district has been working on reducing burglaries by making sure burglary victims are visited by an officer and a supervisor in every single burglary case opened. That’s a higher standard than the department’s goal of making contact either by phone or in person with 98 percent of burglary victims.

Borges said the personal visits improve investigations because officers can gather evidence, such as dusting for fingerprints, checking for suspicious people and speaking with neighbors who might have noticed something unusual. He said police have a small window before evidence is lost or destroyed.

“We’re trying to put in that extra effort to make sure that not only the victims feel that we’re trying to do our best, but our officers (as well),” he said.

Borges stressed that his district wouldn’t be successful without the coordinated success of other districts since criminals are so mobile.

“It’s an ongoing battle,” he added. “It could turn around tomorrow. We constantly have to be on it.”

Statistics through 2013, the latest year final official statistics are available, show the total number of crimes on Oahu have fallen by about 27 percent in 10 years, to 34,000 from about 47,000. During the same period, crime statewide fell about 24 percent. Spanning about the same time period, crime declined roughly 14 percent nationally, according to state and federal statistics.

Ronald Becker, director of the Criminal Justice program at Chaminade University, said that after police locate hot spots using crime data, allocating resources to that area is the next step. But when police presence increases, burglars “fade the heat” and go someplace else, he said.

Therefore, a coordinated, islandwide effort is needed. But limited resources and manpower pose challenges, and when allocating for anti-burglary activities, general patrol duties could be reduced.

“All that being said, when crime rates are up the police take the hit,” Becker said. “When crime rates are down they should … get the credit.”