Drunks in the drink called ‘big issue’

State and city law enforcement officials say they support a call for stiffer enforcement of regulations at the annual, mostly unorganized Fourth of July event known as Floatilla, but also stressed that they are already throwing all the resources they can at the problem.

Capt. John McCarthy of the Honolulu Police Department’s Waikiki patrol district told the City Council Public Health, Safety and Welfare Committee on Tuesday that extra officers are brought in to patrol the shoreline for what’s considered a “critical event.” And Robert Farrell, chief of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, said his agency’s officers receive holiday pay to patrol the waters and that he treats it as an “all-hands-on-deck” event.

McCarthy said 8,000 to 10,000 people were on the beach fronting this year’s Floatilla while 500 to 1,000 others, many of them underage, participated offshore.

The event involved boats and inflatable water toys in relatively shallow water about a half-mile off Waikiki Beach. The Department of Emergency Services reported at least 20 people were treated by city emergency services personnel this July 4, 10 of whom were sent to emergency rooms with primarily alcohol-related injuries or illnesses. City lifeguards, meanwhile, helped hundreds, many of them intoxicated, come ashore.

In response to this year’s outcome, East Honolulu Councilman Trevor Ozawa introduced Resolution 17-189, which calls on DLNR to adopt rules making it illegal to consume alcohol in Waikiki waters during certain holidays. Ozawa noted that DLNR has imposed such regulations at Ahu o Laka, popularly known as the Kaneohe Bay sandbar.

“As the years have gone on … it’s become a big issue,” Ozawa said, adding that the event poses a safety issue and has become an embarrassment for Waikiki, the hub of tourism for Hawaii.

“There’s a time and a place for those activities, and it’s not there and it’s not in Waikiki,” Ozawa said.

Farrell said he would support rules that improve the situation but said Waikiki cannot be treated the same as the Kaneohe Bay sandbar, which is a “geographically isolated area” with not much commercial activity.

Commercial businesses have authority to operate alcohol-serving cruises in Waikiki. An area could be carved out for special rules, but “we don’t want to unintentionally affect those types of activities,” Farrell said.

Farrell said there are already plans for the different agencies to meet to discuss what regulations can be used to mitigate the Floatilla’s problems.

“But I think it’s a comprehensive solution,” he said.

Ozawa expressed surprise when law enforcement officials said no citations were issued by either DOCARE or HPD for underage drinking.

“It’s a matter of numbers and it’s a matter of priorities,” Farrell said. “Would you rather save someone’s life or take an officer out of the field for an hour and a half to write an underaged drinking ticket?’

McCarthy said that on the shore the main activity was ensuring those who were being pulled onto shore were tended to medically. HPD then later looked into how alcohol made its way into the water. “We opened up, I believe, six different criminal cases, and all of them led nowhere. No one was cooperating; no one would tell us where the alcohol is coming from.”

Several people were cited for drinking on the way into the water toward the Floatilla, he said.