Mayor Kirk Caldwell and state officials are working on a plan to allow the city to take over the law enforcement role at Waikiki’s Fort DeRussy Beach, where homeless campers are taking advantage of a jurisdictional loophole to avoid being cited for violating city regulations.

While Honolulu police routinely roust homeless people sleeping on city-managed Waikiki beaches after closing hours, they don’t have the authority to move them from Fort DeRussy Beach, which runs from the Hale Koa Hotel to the jetty by the Outrigger Reef hotel and is under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said Jesse Broder Van Dyke, Caldwell’s spokesman. Residents, businesspeople and community leaders have criticized DLNR recently for allowing homeless people to camp on the stretch of prime Waikiki real estate.

"Our office has spoken to DLNR of the possibility of the city taking over enforcement jurisdiction on Fort DeRussy Beach," Broder Van Dyke said. "There’s an executive order already in effect from the Gov. (Ben) Cayetano administration giving the city authority over Kuhio Beach, Ala Moana Beach and the city also enforces park closures in Kapiolani Park and other beaches like Kaimana."

But he said that order doesn’t apply to Fort DeRussy Beach, creating a loophole in the city’s ability to enforce laws in that area.

Capt. Lisa Mann, acting commander of District 6 Waikiki for the Honolulu Police Department, said police cannot respond to daily complaints regarding homelessness at Fort DeRussy Beach because they were advised recently that they cannot move them.

"The area is under state jurisdiction and the district attorneys won’t prosecute," Mann said.

This means at Fort DeRussy Beach police cannot enforce the city’s so-called compassionate disruption sweeps, park closures, no-camping policies or the laws that were signed last month banning public urination and defecation and sitting or lying on sidewalks in Waikiki.

HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said Waikiki officers began informing the public of the new sit-lie law shortly after it took effect last month.

They began with 171 stops to inform the public about the new law and, since Friday, officers have issued 63 sit-lie warnings and two citations for public urination, Yu said.

Waikiki resident Steve Caplan said the ramp-up in enforcement in other parts of the tourist district combined with the jurisdictional issues between the city and DLNR have created an untenable situation with more homeless people moving to Fort DeRussy Beach.

"The counts are doubling," he said. "Last week, I saw about 30 homeless individuals and couples camping on the beach. I hope that the city and DLNR don’t drag their feet."

Broder Van Dyke said Caldwell had preliminary discussions with DLNR about solving Fort DeRussy Beach’s jurisdictional issues. However, the solution could take a few months since it would require approval by the state Board of Land and Nature Resources.

"They would have to notice it and put it on their agenda and then have a hearing," Broder Van Dyke said. "The mayor is definitely interested in this measure, but he wants to make it clear that it could only happen with the approval of DLNR."

DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said late Thursday that the department wants the city to take control of Fort DeRussy Beach to keep people from sleeping on the sand.

"To do this, a disposition will need to go to the land board," Ward said. "The earliest possible meeting could be Oct. 10."

State Sen. Brickwood Galuteria (D-Kakaako, McCully, Waikiki), who has said he discussed the loophole with DLNR last fall during a interagency meeting on homelessness, asked the agency for an update on the issue after it resurfaced a few weeks ago. "They told Sen. Galuteria that they are coordinating with the city and corporation counsel and should have something worked out in a few weeks," said Galuteria’s aide Rayton Vares.

Jerry Gibson, area vice president of Hilton Hawaii, whose flagship Hilton Hawaiian Village resort, overlooks Fort DeRussy Beach said the city and state need to find a way to "help people try to find their way off the streets and beaches."

"Really, it’s important to have some enforcement on the beach. The visitors that come here tend to wake up three or four hours early that’s why we open Starbucks at 5 a.m.," Gibson said. "We don’t want them to wake up to homeless campers on the beach. That’s not good for tourism."

Daniel Raffone, who recently moved to Hawaii from Bali, said he was shocked by the level of homelessness that he has encountered at Fort DeRussy Beach.

"Homeless people are everywhere. It’s a huge contrast to Hilton Hawaiian Village and shops like Armani and Tiffany’s," Raffone said. "If this continues, the tourists will stop coming to Hawaii. They’ll say, ‘Hawaii was great and beautiful, but there were so many homeless people and drugs all over. We’re going to take our $5,000 elsewhere.’"

Caplan said he has seen tourists from Asia posing for pictures in front of Fort DeRussy’s homeless campers.

"That walkway is a haven for tourists who are going to visit the Atlantis Submarines," he said. "I can only imagine what they are thinking. I feel sorry for the tourists who spend so much money to come here and have to see homeless encampments. And, I don’t like the rule-breakers or the fact that the people in authority have known that there was this problem and wouldn’t do anything about it. "

Caplan said he’s heartened that the city is willing to take over enforcement for DLNR. "It would be an almost instantaneous solution to a growing problem," he said. "If we had a complaint, HPD would respond in five minutes like they did before."

Broder Van Dyke said, "HPD is already on all the nearby Waikiki beaches at night so we don’t think it will necessarily require more staff. This would just give them an additional tool to enforce city laws."

Caplan said he hopes DLNR and the Board of Land and Natural Resources approve the plan. But, in the meantime, he wants to see the state agency step up to handle the interim enforcement that is their responsibility.

"Even if the approval happened tomorrow, it would still be two months before the city and county got involved. I’m happy that they are considering this, but in the meantime, the problem still exists," he said. "They need to find the manpower to start doing their own sweeps."