Heeia Kea Small Boat Harbor receives a $38,000 security camera from NBCUniversal

As “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” gets ready to hit theaters tonight in Hawaii and elsewhere on Friday, the folks at Heeia Kea Small Boat Harbor have a souvenir left by the NBCUniversal productions crews after filming there last summer — a state-of-the-art security camera that they hope will help prevent theft and vandalism.

“It’s really good,” said harbor agent Ernest Choy. “We’re looking at it right now to check out the theft of a generator off a boat.”

Like many other harbors around the island, Choy said Heeia Kea Small Boat Harbor has its share of issues, including the theft of items from boats, graffiti in the bathrooms and illegal dumping of household items.

The challenges for the small-boat harbor, which offers 76 slips for boats in the harbor and another 51 slips offshore, is its remote location on the windward side of Oahu. While the boat tenants, primarily local residents, are a tightknit community, there are still issues with vandals, thrill-seekers doing doughnuts in the parking lot and people littering the place with beer bottles.

NBC Universal donated a solar-powered Blackhawk Security camera valued at about $38,000 after filming “Jurassic World” last summer. The gift was approved by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources in October, but took several months to install.

The boat harbor is still working out the final kinks, but has been using it since about April, said Choy. A few weeks ago there was a rental car break-in, he said, and police were able to use footage from the security camera to search for a female suspect.

He also is hoping it will deter the almost daily illegal dumping of household goods, including old mattresses, at the harbor.

“The rubbish in the harbor is only supposed to be from boaters,” said Choy, “so that’s what the camera will do, to help deter that. The boaters pay fees for services in the harbor.”

At several community meetings that NBCUniversal held with the community, the idea came up to give the harbor a security camera as a way of thanking everyone for their cooperation while filming was going on, according to supervising location manager Laura Sode-Matteson.

During filming, every boat had to vacate the pier for about a month. The boaters were paid a fee, which NBCUniversal declined to disclose.

It was an unusual location, according to Sode-Matteson in a phone interview from Los Angeles, but the small-boat harbor had the configuration, combined with a large parking lot and a finger going out to the ocean, that worked for the production crew. Also, the backdrop of the Koolau mountains by the sea, was a draw.

At three community meetings, NBCUniversal met with fishermen, boat tour operators and boat owners about the production. The boat slips and parking lot all had to be cleared, she said, and it was tough because it was ahi season. There were many moving parts, but amazingly, it all worked out in the end, she said.

Sode-Matteson, who was born in Honolulu, said NBCUniversal was looking for a way to thank everyone at the boat harbor.

“I really wanted to make sure we said thank you because we had so many people help us accomplish what we did,” said Sode-Matteson, who was born in Honolulu.

One of the tenants, Patricia Kaanoi, suggested the security camera at one of the meetings.

“A security camera would be great because motors have gotten stolen,” said Kaanoi, who has had a sailboat at the pier for about three years. “I think all boat harbors should have them for safety.”

Kaanoi said she felt NBCUniversal made moving everyone during filming amenable by offering payments and setting up a temporary area for boaters to park at Coconut Island, with 24-hour security, in addition to providing a shuttle to go back and forth.

Dave Rodriguez, managing partner of the Heeia Kea Pier General Store &Deli, already has his own security camera for his business. For him, issues include enforcement of the two-hour parking limit in front of his restaurant. Also, there are drivers who have collided into the picnic tables fronting his restaurant, and sometimes there are fights.

“I do appreciate it, but it’s just a matter of how well it will be supervised,” he said.