81
Camera-based crime-fighting is coming to high-crime areas on Oahu thanks to a grant from a major retailer.
The Honolulu Police Department is to announce tomorrow the start of Project PUEO, or Policing Using Electronic Observation, at a news conference in Waipahu.
Cameras are to be placed in strategically located areas of federally designated Weed and Seed sites in Ewa, Waipahu and Kalihi/Palama/Chinatown. The initiative is aimed at deterring graffiti, illegal drinking and drugs, and illegal dumping in the Weed and Seed areas by monitoring and recording crimes in those areas.
PUEO — Hawaiian for "owl" — is made possible by a $100,000 grant from Target’s Safe City Project.
HPD already uses video cameras to monitor illicit activity in Waikiki and Chinatown. It’s unclear whether those programs will be absorbed by PUEO or operate independently.
