Last week’s fatal stabbing at Kailua District Park has fueled an already hot topic that one legislator calls the "Kailua Crime Wave," including a range of property crimes.
Kailua Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R, Kailua-Kaneohe Bay), who said she came face to face with a burglar at her home near the park, wrote Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha asking for an increased police presence at the park, where children play, and calls the park a staging area for criminal activity and home for the homeless.
Police Lt. David Eber (who is assigned to the Honolulu Police Department’s Kailua station) said that a higher-than-usual rise in property crimes in Kailua is unrelated to the alleged murder of a 48-year-old homeless man early Friday morning.
Crime from all areas of Kailua, ranging from assaults to car break-ins, ballooned in June by 89 percent over June 2012, with a total of 191 cases, compared with 101 in June 2012. Forty burglaries were reported in June compared with 16 last June; thefts were up to 55 from 39; and car break-ins jumped to 69 from 23.
Over a four-month period, there was a 37 percent increase in the total number of crimes in Kailua.
A community meeting was held Tuesday to address crime, and another is planned for today at 6:30 p.m. to discuss re-establishing a neighborhood watch.
Rowena Somerville, a former deputy city prosecutor, said Tuesday, "I was just burglarized two weeks ago. I have an alarm. I have a dog."
The burglars targeted designer handbags and jewelry, she said.
The district park is next to or on the same block as two schools, the police and fire stations, and the public library and is across the street from houses.
Police said they usually see an increase in property crime during the summer when students are out of school, "but this summer it’s gone up more than it usually does,"Eber said.
Although there have been some key arrests in the last few weeks for burglaries and car break-ins, they’re still seeing an increase in cases since the crimes involve several people, he said.
Despite arrests, "others pick up the slack," Eber said.
Thielen said her family’s barking dog alerted her to a woman who broke into her enclosed backyard in the middle of the day.
"I was home, but I don’t think she was aware of that," she said. "We came face to face…with her on the outside of the window and me on the inside. I ordered her out. Her companion was parked just a couple of houses down in a white panel van. This was not a homeless situation."
Thielen said many burglars and thieves come from outside Kailua, ride bicycles, carry backpacks, go individually or in pairs to scope out houses, and communicate with one another.
She is calling for a greater police presence at the park. She also criticized the court system for not sentencing criminals with multiple prior convictions to serve time.
"It doesn’t do any good if the police catch them and the court system spits them out," she said.
Police told members of the Kailua Neighborhood Board last week that about 7 percent of those arrested are responsible for 70 percent of the crimes, board President Chuck Prentiss said.
"Police are as frustrated as the community," he said.
"The main complaint is that perpetrators are let out on the street and go right back and do the same thing," he said. He said many expressed criticism of judges Thursday at the neighborhood board meeting.
Prentiss believes the stabbing was an isolated incident, and acknowledged that a number of homeless people live at the park. Both the suspect and victim were believed to be homeless.
"I don’t know why they don’t chase them away," he said. "The board has discussed it in the past. I don’t feel our recreation facilities are a proper solution to the (homeless) problem."
Police have taken care of a prior problem with drug dealing at the park, residents and Prentiss said.
Park users generally did not feel it was unsafe during the day, but many were not inclined to visit the park at night.
Keanu Wong, 12, was at the park earlier this week and said she saw news coverage of the stabbing. She said she wasn’t afraid to come to the park, however, "’cause he’s in jail."
Paige Kemsley, 19, drove her younger brothers and sisters and their friends to the park at midday Monday.
"I think that it’s pretty safe in the day, but I don’t think I’d bring them at night," she said, adding that she’s seen "quite a few homeless sleeping here in the early morning, but never in the day."
Howard Keller swims daily at the pool and said, "I feel perfectly safe." As for the homeless, "They take up some space but I’ve never felt any threat. … I think we’re dealing with a homeless problem that is islandwide, and most of the time I don’t think it’s a safety issue.
"I feel sorry for the homeless," he said. "I think we should be providing for them."
A 50-year resident who lives across South Kainalu Street from the park said she often calls police.
"I get so frustrated," said the woman, who would identify herself only as Miss Rusty. "We don’t see enough police coverage. … My window is my TV set. You just have to look."
But shortly after she expressed her concerns, two police cars that had been patrolling the area pulled into the park.
"People are afraid to leave their houses because there’s so much crime in our area," she said.
She blames the homeless population, which she said has increased immensely.
She called police a few days ago to report a homeless person sleeping in the park for six hours, saying, "Kids can’t go there."
She believes the property crimes affecting her neighbors, including graffiti, postal theft, burglaries and car break-ins, are related.
She said a neighbor heard and saw a suspected burglar whistle to see whether she had a dog before coming onto her property.
"Everyone should be logged in to crimemapping.com," she said. "Kuulei Road is a high crime area, and that’s where the police station is."
One day when she logged on to the site, "It looked like a lei around the police station," she said. "It’s like they’re playing cat and mouse."
"These are all little things that add up to one big thing," she said.
Eber said he doesn’t know what’s causing the unusual rise.
Thielen theorizes, "I think they’ve so-called ‘discovered’ Kailua," she said. "We’re a very friendly community. … Maybe doors aren’t locked as they should be."
Kailua resident Doug Krummel, 51, who was relaxing in the shade of a tree at the park, said he chose Kailua to live in because of "the safeness and security of the area."
"The police presence is visible," he said. "They’re always driving around in the area."
Enchanted Lake resident Joseph Keawe, 21, said that in Kailua "there has been a lot of crime going around, but it doesn’t really affect me," citing "burglaries, car theft and murder."
Evelyn Ricketts, 60, lives under a small canopy along a walkway at the edge of the park.
"All of sudden we have a problem," she said. "There’s a focus on me. I’m not a lawbreaker. This is where I live. I only go where I know."
Peggy Schum, 66, said, "I wouldn’t walk here at night, but during the day I feel pretty comfortable," and later waved to Ricketts as she walked by.
"The best thing for the community to do is use this park," she said, adding that it would discourage others from using it.
"Ninety percent of the homeless are good," she said. "There’s a few corkers, of course."
