New sheriff’s facility speeds processing

A new Kakaako booking and warrants building for the state Sheriff Division is proving to be more convenient for both deputies and the public.

The $1.2 million Booking/Receiving and Warrants Facility on Keawe Street, open since last month, was dedicated by state officials Wednesday.

Previously, booking operations were at Halawa Correctional Facility while warrants were handled at a Department of Public Safety building at Pier 20, state Sheriff Shawn Tsuha said.

"We’re in the metropolitan city area — the courts, the federal building, the city and county are all in close proximity," Tsuha said Wednesday. "We’re right here instead of booking in Halawa, which is real problematic because you’ve got to clear your weapons, you’ve got to go in and out of a secure facility."

The new location reduces transportation distances and paperwork issues, Tsuha said. "It’s a lot faster, and a lot more efficient," he said.

The new facility is viewed as less intimidating for people wishing to turn themselves in to authorities because it is not part of the Halawa facility, Tsuha said.

"People don’t want to turn themselves in at a prison," he said. "So we’re getting a lot more walk-in traffic now."

The number of people who voluntarily turn themselves in has doubled since the facility opened, to 155 in November from 74 in November 2010. There were 74 bookings in the first 13 days of December this year compared with 38 in all of December 2010.

The Keawe Street facility includes three holding cells.

"We’re not an overnight facility, so once they’re booked they either bail out, they go straight to Oahu Community Correctional Center or they go to central receiving at HPD for overnight, and then we pick them up and transport them for arraignment at either District Court, or Circuit Court or wherever," Tsuha said.

By early next year, Tsuha said, the plan is also to have at least six deputy sheriffs with patrol duties based out of the Keawe Street facility 24 hours a day. That should provide a better sense of security for the Kakaako community, he said.