Anti-crime programs need time to work, Honolulu prosecutor says

Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm confirmed Wednesday that his office continues its anti­-crime efforts, albeit slowly, in known trouble spots like Waikiki, Chinatown and even into the Leeward areas of Oahu.

Appearing on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” broadcast, Alm said Safe and Sound Waikiki has made hundreds of arrests for violent and nonviolent crimes alike since its launch last September in the island’s heavily visited tourist zone.

“Without question there’s a lot of activity going on there; police have made like 500 arrests” under the program, Alm said. “We are prosecuting people.”

Noting the bulk of those arrests are for “quality of life crimes,” Alm said his office is asking the courts to schedule more misdemeanor cases for the crimes of assault, terroristic threatening, disorderly conduct, urinating in public and drinking in public.

“Those are the things that can tear a community down,” said Alm, adding his office is also asking the courts to put more people on probation for misdemeanors in order to make a geographic restriction a condition of probation. “That’s only happened in a couple of dozen cases but we would like it in more to clean the place up.”

He said Waikiki and Chinatown — which has its own anti-crime program called Weed and Seed that restarted in 2021 — are both “challenging areas.”

“That’s why we’re doing Safe and Sound (in Waikiki) and that’s why we’re doing Weed and Seed in Chinatown and in Waipahu and in Ewa-Ewa Beach,” Alm said. “We’re doing it in places that have had challenges … so we can work closely with HPD and the community to make it better.”

Moreover, he said the Weed and Seed program in Waipahu and Ewa-Ewa Beach is “tailored to the needs of those communities” and does not necessarily follow its sister program in Chinatown.

“So one of the biggest differences are many of the arrests are people who live in that area,” Alm said. “So we will not be making the same kind of effort to have geographic restriction for nearly as many people that we have in those two communities. If they live somewhere else and they’re going to the community to cause trouble, then we will ask for it.”

But Alm confirmed that in general Weed and Seed — a federally funded program begun decades ago before being formally disbanded until its resurrection two years ago — does not have a geographical restriction component, a factor the city prosecutor finds “frustrating.”

“And the reason it’s particularly frustrating is when we did Weed and Seed the first time in Chinatown and Kalihi-Palama 20 years ago, the court granted (geographic restriction) every single time we requested it,” said Alm. “Because there’s something about that area that gets the person in trouble … maybe their drug connection is there, maybe their low-life friends are there. So it even helps those folks not to be there.”

However, Alm said his prosecutors do not ask for geographic restrictions to be placed on people if they live, work, or get services in those areas “like a mental health therapist.” Still, Alm said the courts are no longer putting people on probation and granting geographic restrictions for Waikiki, Chinatown or Kalihi-Palama when his office requests it.

“And it’s very frustrating,” Alm said.

In the meantime, Alm said both programs, Weed and Seed and Safe and Sound Waikiki, will take time to show results.

“But the beauty of Safe and Sound, just like Weed and Seed, is we’re going to be there next week, we’re going to be there next month, we’re going to be there next year,” he said. “It’s going to keep getting better and better.”

Similarly, Alm noted a pilot program that began last year — Substance Use Disorder Assessment-Fast, or SUDA-­Fast — aids homeless people who’ve been arrested in China­town, mainly for felony drug-related crimes.

“In order to help them get off the street and stay off the street, they’ve got to get clean and sober and they’ve got to get help for their mental health,” Alm said, noting this program takes those jailed for crimes for assessment and placement into health treatment as soon as possible. “In a regular situation, they’d get arrested, go to OCCC, if a week later at arraignment a judge releases them (then) they go right back to the street.”

Alm said the SUDA-Fast program has gained support from the Office of the Public Defender, who’d like to expand the program to the entire island.

“I don’t think we’re there yet,” he said, adding the number of people being referred has slowed. “Because most of the homeless folks in Chinatown that are sleeping on the street have been arrested and are no longer there … a lot of those folks have been referred.”

In terms of measuring success for these programs or seeing them end entirely, Alm said he expects these anti-crime programs to continue for years to come.

“When we did Weed and Seed the first time, the year before there were 10,000 arrests in Chinatown and Kalihi-­Palama, the year we finished there were 2,300 (arrests),” Alm said. “The whole point is if you weed out the criminal activity then all of the seeding components with community activities will flourish.”

To public criticism over the rise in crime here, Alm admitted crime has risen — particularly following a 30% drop in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. He said his office continues to work hard to keep the island “as safe as possible” but that it takes the help of citizens to make it an even safer place.

“Citizens are an important part of this,” Alm said. “If they see an illegal activity, call 911. Support the police department, support the prosecutors. Because if you see something and can be a witness, we urge you to be willing to testify in court. Take part in a Neighborhood Watch. We’re all in this together, and we are doing are level best to protect public safety.”