Police seek input on crime mapping

Neighborhood board members, the police want to hear from you.

The Honolulu Police Department said Friday it plans to seek feedback about its crime mapping program at November neighborhood board meetings around Oahu.

The program has come under fire recently following Honolulu Star-Advertiser stories revealing that HPD excludes violent crimes from its online mapping site. It was the only police department among more than 150 nationally checked by the newspaper to exclude violent crimes from the public maps.

It also excludes violent offenses from the monthly statistics HPD reports to neighborhood boards.

Representatives from about a dozen boards have told the Star-Advertiser they would like to see all crimes plotted on the mapping site and reported to the community groups. Several said similar requests made to HPD over the past several years have gone unheeded.

On Wednesday night the Mililani/Waipio/Melemanu Neighborhood Board adopted a resolution asking HPD to include violent crimes on its mapping site and in monthly board reports.

HPD launched its mapping service six years ago in response to inquiries from neighborhood boards. At the time, HPD said, they were primarily interested in property crimes.

HPD said Friday it plans to survey neighborhood boards, victim advocates, businesses and others to see whether they would like additional crimes added to the mapping site.

Loretta Sheehan, a new member of the Honolulu Police Commission, said violent crimes should not be excluded.

“If they’re going to provide crime statistics, they can’t provide a half-truth,” Sheehan told the Star-Advertiser. “They have to provide the whole truth.”