Honolulu police to increase presence in Waikiki

Louis Erteschik, a 27-year Waikiki resident, said he has always believed that the state’s top tourist district is generally safe.

But Erteschik acknowledged that public perception — including his own — has degraded following several high-profile violent crimes:

>> Maleko “Mac” Remlinger, 22, was killed Sept. 16 and two others injured when a man with a rifle shot into a crowd outside Club Alley Cat.

>> Police opened an attempted second-degree murder investigation after a 21-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier sustained multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma to his head following an attack involving a baseball bat Oct. 6 at Kalakaua Avenue and Lewers Street.

>> A Canadian woman was punched and stabbed with a nail file by a man at 5:15 p.m. Oct. 9 on Kanekapolei Street and Kuhio Avenue.

“It was an eye-opener when Waikiki came up and one of my friends asked, ‘Did anyone get killed in Waikiki today?’” Erteschik said. “We always have felt safe here. When it gets to the point that you don’t feel safe here, when shootings and stabbings have gotten out of hand, it’s getting to a crisis level.”

The latest crimes have added to the Honolulu Police Department’s Waikiki load, which so far this year has included more than 273 assaults, 53 robberies, 20 sex crimes and three killings.

Hawaii is generally considered a safe tourist destination, and crime rates remain low compared with other tourist spots. But growing unease on the part of residents — and the realization that all it takes is one well-publicized violent crime to ruin Waikiki’s reputation — has attracted the attention of Honolulu leaders.

“What’s going on? I ask that question every day,” Mayor Kirk Caldwell told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Police say there’s no link between the crimes. They are all different and random. (Acting HPD Chief Cary Okimoto) will be increasing officers in Waikiki, and we’ll see what else has to be done. If others have ideas, we’ll consider it.”

Okimoto said starting Tuesday, HPD will deploy more bike patrols from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., the district’s peak crime hours. On Nov. 4 HPD will increase Waikiki staffing about 10 percent by sending police recruits there, Okimoto said.

On any given day Waikiki already has about 100 officers available to work on foot, in cars, on bikes and on ATVs, Okimoto said. The district has a combination of uniformed and plainclothes officers, special-duty forces and community police, who have organized citizens’ patrols, he said.

“Historically, for an area less than two miles, Waikiki has been staffed really well. It’s a priority,” Okimoto said.

Caldwell said he supports increasing Waikiki’s police presence, especially bike patrol officers and beach officers. The challenge is that a tight labor market already has left HPD short 200 city-funded positions.

The city also will re-prioritize security cameras, Caldwell said. There are 11 security cameras in Waikiki, but only four are working.

Caldwell said the city will fix broken ones and add more, concentrating on Kalakaua, Kuhio and Seaside avenues. Cameras serve mostly as a deterrent but are monitored by “aloha ambassadors,” who can notify police of crimes in progress. Recordings also can be used for evidence, he said.

The Hospitality Services program, under contract with the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association, provides aloha ambassadors to answer questions from the public at the police substation at Kuhio Beach Park and a kiosk at the Beach Walk complex on Lewers Street. Wearing light green shirts and black shorts, they also patrol parts of Waikiki on foot and bicycles.

City Councilman Trevor Ozawa said he wants more Waikiki crime-fighting resources in the city’s fiscal-2019 budget. There’s talk of adding armed park rangers in Waikiki city parks, which would require a City Charter amendment.

Ozawa expects to introduce a bill Nov. 4 that would ban illegal panhandlers and street businesses from Waikiki’s crowded streets. He also wants to gather stakeholders for a crime summit, which he said has preliminary support from the Waikiki Improvement Association, Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association, Hawaii Tourism Authority, HPD and the city Department of Emergency Management.

“Safety and crime have just been atrocious and embarrassing. We can’t have these people acting this way in Waikiki,” Ozawa said.

Despite the high-profile nature of recent incidents, City Council Chairman Ron Menor said Honolulu remains one of the safest big cities in America. Still, Menor said, Ozawa’s ideas are worth discussing.

“Hawaii’s visitor industry is the engine that drives our economy, so it is concerning anytime we see violence like some of the recent events in Waikiki,” Menor said. “One of the core functions of government is to provide public safety, and the members of the City Council support the discussion of any plans or policies that aim to make Oahu a safe place for our residents and visitors.”

Australian visitors Paul and Trish Rule said Thursday that Hawaii’s reputation as a safe destination is why they came back for a second visit.

“This part of our trip has been very quiet. We arrived in Las Vegas the day of the shooting, and it was chaos,” Trish Rule said. “We have crime in Sydney, but our gun rules are stricter so we don’t have much gun crime. If you have gun crimes, it might be something to discuss.”

Holding a summit and developing a new tourism security plan are vital to Hawaii’s reputation as a safe tourism destination, said Peter Tarlow, a global crime and terrorism expert from Texas who flew to Honolulu last week to meet with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii and other agencies.

“Would you say this poor Canadian woman who was injured on Monday feels the aloha spirit? If I stuck a knife in you, would you call it love?” Tarlow said. “Waikiki is the economic driver and the place most associated with Hawaii, so it’s essential that attention gets paid to what’s going on here.”

CRIMES AGAINST VISITORS

While crimes against visitors reported to the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii fell 6 percent during the first nine months of the year from the same period in 2016, some violent categories — including assaults and robberies — rose. VASH, which assists visitors in distress who reach out, doesn’t get reports of all incidents. VASH also doesn’t track crime districts, but officials said the vast majority of incidents happen in Waikiki.