Overall costs of Mauna Kea law enforcement remain hazy

The Attorney General’s Office continues to withhold information about the overall costs of the state’s law enforcement efforts on Mauna Kea, where demonstrators have been blocking the road leading to the construction site of the Thirty Meter Telescope for nearly two months.

As those costs clearly mount into the millions amid the ongoing standoff on the mountain, both supporters and opponents of the project have registered frustration.

The Attorney General’s Office has been coordinating law enforcement efforts on the mountain, which have included county police departments, state sheriffs, the National Guard and officers from the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, which is part of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Attorney General Clare Connors said in July that her office was closely tracking the project-related expenses and making sure everyone was aware of what was being spent. The AG’s office is expected to reimburse most of the costs.

But so far, the bulk of the information on costs has come from the counties despite the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s repeated inquiries over the past two months to the AG’s office.

Hawaii County spent nearly $3.3 million through mid-July, most of which has gone to police working overtime. The Honolulu and Maui County police departments spent about $260,000 combined in overtime, travel and vehicle shipping.

The Attorney General’s Office has released some figures, including $166,000 in overtime costs for its own personnel for July. Another $452,000 was spent on equipment, supplies and transportation across multiple agencies.

These figures combined top $4 million.

However, the agency has not released specific information on the costs associated with the National Guard, DOCARE and state sheriffs, which are expected to be significant.

The National Guard has had 80 officers on Mauna Kea since the first week of demonstrations. Officers are helping man a checkpoint and assisting law enforcement with transportation and personnel.

Jeff Hickman, a spokesman for the state Department of Defense, told the Start-Advertiser on Thursday that his agency has been turning over cost information for the National Guard to the Attorney General’s Office.

“So they will have a pretty up-to-date number,” he said in referring the Star-Advertiser to the AG’s office for cost information.

Krishna Jayaram, a spokesman for the AG’s office, told the Star-Advertiser on Friday that it could be the information his office has received so far from DOD and other state agencies is preliminary.

“My guess is that it must be estimates that our guys aren’t able to confirm right now,” he said. “Otherwise, we are committed to transparency.”

The governor’s office on Friday said that Gov. David Ige had transferred $15 million from the Department of Transportation to the Attorney General’s Community Safety Program trust fund to be used for TMT-related costs.