A program started last year by the Honolulu Police Department and the nonprofit Domestic Violence Action Center is supposed to ensure victims get more attention and support in the aftermath of an incident.

Seven months after the Safe on Scene pilot program was announced and hailed as a new means of tackling domestic violence, however, DVAC Chief Executive Nanci Kreidman told the Honolulu Police Commission that HPD officers in Waikiki and, to a lesser extent East Honolulu, have been slow to embrace the concept and take advantage of the program.

Safe on Scene, which runs 2-10 p.m. seven days a week, allows an HPD officer and domestic abuse advocate to arrive on the scene together. Supporters say the dual approach both assures the victim gets more attention and that the responding officer can focus on processing a scene and working with suspects.

Kreidman said that of 119 days a Safe on Scene provider was on duty for District 6 (Waikiki) since Nov. 10, program staff was called only on 11 days, or about 9.24 percent. In District 7 (Manoa to Hawaii Kai), where the program began Sept. 26, Safe on Scene advocates were contacted 89 out of 163 available days, or about 54.6 percent of the time.

After giving a December presentation on the program’s inner workings to District 7 officers, Kreidman said, the only question she received was, “‘Are you done?’”

Advocates sometimes go consecutive days without any calls, she said. “We have a hard time believing that there’s no domestic violence … it seems very unlikely.”

Kreidman said, “Survivors out in the community desperately need our help and this partnership so that the investigation is done well, the scene is secured right, and the survivors get what they need in that moment.”

Police Commission member Loretta Sheehan called the lack of calls “really troubling.”

“We don’t really have a clear understanding as to why they don’t call us,” Kreidman said.

Assistant Police Chief Richard Robinson of HPD’s Investigative Bureau gave the commission a Safe on Scene presentation. The joint approach works well because trained advocates are generally better at working with the victims and the complex traumas they’ve experienced, he said.

“We’re really not that great at that, to tell you the truth, especially when we were just in a very high-intensity situation,” Robinson said. “It’s just a tough switch to make all at once.”

Robinson said his numbers show advocates went to 121 calls in East Honolulu, and they showed up at eight responses in Waikiki. Additionally, detectives assigned to the domestic violence detail were accompanied by 28 referrals.

Police Commission Chairman Max Sword — after hearing from Kreidman and Robinson — said Safe on Scene should be fully embraced by HPD.

Robinson, in response to Kreidman’s concerns, told the Honolulu Star-­Advertiser that he agrees the program is valuable and should be allowed to grow. “This is a much-needed program that the HPD fully supports, and we’d like to see it expanded to the rest of the island with expanded hours,” he said in a statement.

Robinson said he expects the program to run until at least February 2019. “We’d like to see it continue as far into the future as possible.”

Kreidman said whether the program can continue or expand will depend on obtaining funding.