Editorial: Safety in Waikiki can be improved

The visitor industry wants Waikiki to boom. Government wants tax revenue to flow. Nobody wants a jump in crime targeting the state’s top tourist destination, which could turn travelers off and have a negative ripple effect on the state’s economy.

As tourist numbers climb upward, police, visitor industry professionals and Waikiki residents worry that crime is increasing, following a significant drop during heavily restricted phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One piece of the solution could be Weed & Seed, a national model program that targets crime hotspots and steers would-be criminals toward community services. Mufi Hannemann, president of the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association (HLTA), is calling for Weed & Seed in Waikiki, with Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm at the helm.

Given Alm’s experience with Weed & Seed, and Waikiki’s importance to Hawaii’s economy, we urge stakeholders to ramp up this targeted, aggressive crime-stopping program.

There’s a sense of urgency to get a handle on this problem before tourist numbers recover to pre-pandemic figures. We know they are coming back. Next week, Gov. David Ige leads a Hawaii delegation to Japan to promote the special relationship between Japanese visitors and the islands, calling the return of Japanese visitors “a priority.”

Alm is prepping to bring Weed & Seed to Waikiki, after the program gets rolled out in Chinatown, Waipahu and Ewa. He’s proud of his efforts to bring the program to Chinatown in 1997, as U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii; there, Weed & Seed reduced crime more than 70% over three years, Alm said.

The success of a Weed & Seed program is tied to close communication between residents, business owners, police and prosecutors. Alm said he runs it as a data-driven program: Meetings, surveys and street-level observation are required to set program targets, so setting up a Weed & Seed takes some time.

Still, he has an idea of the problems that need solving.

“Things like sex trafficking of juveniles, a lot of it takes place here,” Alm said, at a meeting in Waikiki last June. “And I don’t think that there’s a homeless kid on this island that hasn’t spent time in Waikiki.”

Alm has more meetings with Waikiki representatives planned over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, it’s also important that Waikiki maintain an effective police presence — not a heavy-handed one, but one that enhances the reputation of the resort district as a safe, inviting place at any hour.

As Honolulu City Councilmember Tommy Waters has proposed, we support increased police visibility in Waikiki, along with adequate funding to fill police ranks.

Waters has called for a discussion on restricting 4 a.m. cabaret liquor licenses to hotels and resorts, because other late-night venues were often the nexus for fights, mugging and other crimes. That’s worth discussing.

There are other tools as well. Alm said judges can impose a geographic ban on misdemeanor offenders, but this response has been used sparingly. A Weed & Seed program could bring it to the forefront.

In addition, Alm has publicly committed to charging blatant repeat offenders — who may shoplift, for example, on a daily basis — with a felony serial offender charge. Under that scenario, the offender is likely to spend time in jail, from which they might choose to enter a rehab program, or at least break the cycle.

“It is critical that we do what is necessary to maintain our reputation as one of the safest tourism destinations in the world,” Hannemann wrote last year in “Mufi’s Message,” his newsletter to the tourist industry. On this, we agree.