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Waikiki business owners and residents are calling on the Honolulu Police Department and other officials to address a recent uptick in serious crimes in the state’s top tourist district, where two men were stabbed in separate incidents on the same night last week.
California visitor Elian De La Cerda, 19, was stabbed to death about 12:40 a.m. Tuesday during a fight near the Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole statue at the intersection of Kalakaua and Ohua avenues. The other attack, which happened about 30 minutes later near the Kapahulu Groin, was not fatal but added to crime concerns as the state’s visitor industry mounts its recovery and the community transitions to a much busier place.
State visitor industry officials are well aware the high-profile crimes occurred just days before Gov. David Ige announced the loosening of travel restrictions.
“The timing of it as we are starting to come back is not good. We don’t want to give people any reason to pause when thinking about coming to Hawaii,” said Mufi Hannemann, president and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. “These recent crimes detract from our reputation as a safe place to visit for a large city.”
Ige announced Friday that beginning June 15, the state will end restrictions on travel between the Hawaiian islands and extend quarantine and testing exemptions to residents returning from the mainland who verify being fully vaccinated in Hawaii.
Ige also said that once 60% of Hawaii’s population is vaccinated, vaccination cards will be accepted for visitors from the mainland, who can then skip the current mandatory 10-day quarantine period or COVID-19 testing. When the state’s vaccination rate reaches 70%, Ige said all travel restrictions will be lifted and the Safe Travels program will end.
Hawaii is the only state that still requires testing for vaccinated travelers, so further loosening of restrictions is thought to be a major step in ensuring Hawaii retains its competitive edge and is able to take full advantage of growing travel demand.
Safety a selling point
Hannemann said one of Waikiki’s best selling points is that it has had a good public health record during the pandemic. Waikiki’s appeal as a visitor destination also depends on its ability to keep crime at bay, he said.
Hannemann said he plans to call Waikiki stakeholders together for a mini visitor public safety conference in the next two weeks. A similar gathering was held in March as visitor arrivals began steadily rising and Waikiki crime was returning to the radar after a hiatus for most of 2020, which saw tourism plunge 75% due to the pandemic.
The 2020 crime statistics for Waikiki were a vast improvement over 2019, when Honolulu City Council Chairman Tommy Waters and state Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, who both represent the tourism district, co-hosted a crime and safety town hall in response to a wave of property and violent crimes that had residents on edge.
Peter Tarlow, president of Tourism and More and a renown tourism safety and security expert, said many destinations are struggling with increased crime as they reopen and tourism comes back.
“Across the country we are seeing a rise in violence,” Tarlow said. “Hawaii is no exception to that rule.”
He said changing traveler demographics have created challenges in places like Las Vegas, where “less well off people are coming from California and they are having a lot of fights in the Strip now.”
Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Chicago and New York are all addressing rising crime, according to Tarlow. “Hawaii is actually better off than some of these places,” he said, cautioning that crime-related fallout could be more damaging for Hawaii because it’s more reliant on tourism.
Tarlow said there is still time to be proactive, as the recent crimes in Waikiki did not make national news and so far aren’t part of a “regular crime wave.”
Waters said he and others want to prevent that from happening. The councilman said he began getting complaints this spring about homeless individuals trespassing and damaging property at the Kuhio Beach pavilions, city bus stops, the Ala Wai Canal promenade and bridge, various 7-Eleven locations, and in public and private parking lots. He also has gotten reports of homeless individuals aggressively accosting residents.
To be sure, Honolulu Police Department crime-mapping statistics show that major crimes within 1 mile of the Waikiki 96815 ZIP code increased nearly 27% from January, when there were 273 crimes, through May, when there were 346.
The steepest monthly uptick was from February to March, when crimes rose nearly 49%. March was the same month that Safe Travels Hawaii saw airport visitor screenings increase more than 81%.
It was around that time that Waikiki Neighborhood Board Chairman Bob Finley wrote to Waters seeking help with surging crime.
Jessica Lani Rich, president and CEO of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, which helps visitors in distress, said Thursday the nonprofit also has witnessed a rise in crimes against visitors.
“Tourism is back and so are crimes against our visitors,” Rich said. “It feels like we are working more than we did in 2019, although none of the crimes that year were as violent as the recent (fatal) stabbing in Waikiki. It’s the most nefarious crime that we’ve had since COVID.”
Hours after the attack, police arrested a suspect in the case, a 21-year-old man who has been charged with second-degree murder and is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $1 million bail. Police also arrested a 29-year-old man in the second Waikiki stabbing Tuesday, which wounded a 21-year-old man.
Rich said VASH reached out to help De La Cerda’s friends and family in the aftermath of his death.
“We just finished this case, but I know there are thousands more coming,” Rich said. “I worry because of the uncertainty of the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s funding. Our budget is only funded through December.”
Increasing visibility
Keeping Waikiki safe for visitors and residents must stay a priority, Waters said, especially as tourism returns.
“We are just coming out of this pandemic and we had two stabbings the same night. This occurred yards away from the Waikiki police substation. How brazen is that? It’s just appalling,” he said. “It’s not good for our visitor industry and our residents don’t feel safe.”
Waters said he is continuing to push for more HPD bike and foot patrols. He’s also encouraging neighborhood patrols of citizens accompanied by community policing officers and has taken part in recent ones.
HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said the department has been “shifting resources to increase visibility, especially with the reopening.”
Yu said HPD suspended neighborhood patrols during COVID-19 but that they have been reinstated.
“We have four neighborhood patrols in Waikiki and they have started gathering and walking again,” she said. “They are covering four different routes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Waters also wants to revisit discussions about banning 4 a.m. liquor licenses outside of Waikiki hotels and resorts. The move was last seriously discussed in 2017 and 2018 following the stabbing, one of them fatal, of three young military men in Waikiki.
These earlier violent acts against military members prompted a warning about Waikiki crime from an Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board. While it didn’t exercise the option, the board had the power to place establishments off-limits to military personnel.
Hannemann said he supports Waters’ call for a more visible police presence and limiting early morning alcohol service outside of Waikiki resorts.
He hopes to have a discussion with Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm about bringing “Weed and Seed” to Waikiki. The program aims to “weed” criminals from targeted neighborhoods while “seeding” the community by building up human services.
“Weed and Seed has worked before and we are confident that it will work again,” Alm said Friday. “We need to show success in Chinatown/Kalihi-Palama. If it’s successful, we will be looking at expanding the strategy in full back to Waipahu, Ewa/Ewa Beach, and possibly other communities.
“Waikiki would certainly be a natural location for the Weed and Seed strategy.”
Hannemann also wants greater enforcement of illegal vacation rentals, which he said have grown more popular during the pandemic and may not be providing enough security to guests or giving them the information they need to stay safe.
He said Waikiki businesses also must step up as they did to address the 2017 and 2018 surge in violence.
Hannemann said Waikiki’s visitor industry and other community members have supported programs that offer assistance to the district’s homeless population, including funding that helps support airfare for individuals to return to the mainland. They also have funded programs such as Adult Friends for Youth, which aims to keep youths out of gangs, and have worked to ensure Waikiki is well lit and covered by security cameras that assist law enforcement.
Yu said additional security cameras were installed last year, bringing the total to 49 throughout Waikiki. She said the city and HTA partnered on the project.
Tarlow said concerted efforts have worked to turn the tide in Waikiki before. In 2007, the Hawaii Tourism Authority hired him to prioritize safety goals.
Tarlow, who advised the Caribbean island of Aruba on how to restore tourism after the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway, first worked with Hawaii’s visitor industry in the mid-1990s, when crime in Waikiki was at its zenith and a high rate of crystal meth use was creating widespread problems.
This time, he advises reinforcing VASH and the instantly recognizable Aloha Ambassadors who move about the Waikiki Business Improvement District dispensing information and assistance while attired in fluorescent-green shirts. The ambassadors patrol Waikiki daily and also monitor videofeeds from the security camera system along Kalakaua Avenue.
“Hawaii can’t stop every stabbing. I wish it could, but it can’t,” Tarlow said. “You need to work on the positives. We are going to make sure Waikiki is clean. We aren’t going to allow homeless on the street. We are going to have ambassadors. We’re going to exercise VASH. Those are good things that you guys could do and that’s going to put you ahead of the pack.”
Citizen patrols restart
>> Waikiki Community Center Citizen Patrol meets Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. at the center, 310 Paoakalani Ave.
>> Waikiki West Citizen Patrol meets Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. at Eaton Square, 438 Hobron Lane.
>> Waikiki East Citizen Patrol meets Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. at the big banyan tree on Kalakaua Avenue near Uluniu Avenue.
>> Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor Citizen Patrol meets Thursdays at 7 p.m.
For more information, visit 808ne.ws/HPD6 or contact HPD Officer Stephanie Virardi at 723-3349 or svirardi@honolulu.gov.
TRAVEL DEMAND IS PICKING UP
Visitor screenings for Safe Travels Hawaii show increased demand for tourism, most of it after March, when vaccination distribution rates picked up across the U.S. The increase in visitors corresponds to a surge in Waikiki crime.
MONTH/YEAR /# OF SCREENINGS
October 2020 84,275
November 2020 222,545
December 2020 286,892
January 2021 214,669
February 2021 285,189
March 2021 516,962
April 2021 574,206
May 2021 731,221
June 1-3, 2021 82,395
Source: Safe Travels Hawaii
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