City officials say a program targeting the island’s prime tourist zone has lowered violent and property crimes dramatically since its inception in September 2022.
Marking today’s first anniversary for the Safe and Sound Waikiki initiative, a joint news conference was held Tuesday morning near Kuhio Beach, along Kalakaua Avenue, with Mayor Rick Blangiardi and members of the city’s law enforcement and business community in attendance.
Many say the program’s second year will focus on aiding the drug-addicted and the homeless found within the 1.3-square-mile neighborhood, whose local population comprises 25,800 residents.
Implementing the Safe and Sound Waikiki program — which uses geographic restrictions placed by judges on arrested defendants to deter crime in the area — has also meant collaboration among the mayor’s office, the city Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Honolulu Police Department as well as the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association and other community partners.
“Safe and Sound Waikiki is all about collaboration; that’s the only way it works. Nobody gets anything done by themselves,” Prosecutor Steven Alm said. “So that means our office is working with HPD closely, identifying hot spots, identifying those people causing the most problems.”
Due to this collaborative effort, police say a “dramatic decrease” in crime has occurred in Waikiki.
“Our mission at the Honolulu Police Department is to identify repeat criminal offenders, arrest them and work with the Prosecutor’s Office to get them ‘geographically restricted’ from the area,” said HPD Acting Lt. Blake Arita, part of the department’s District 6, which serves Waikiki.
Arita added if previously arrested defendants return to Waikiki, “we work with the Prosecutor’s Office to get a warrant and arrest them again.”
To that end, he noted HPD crime statistics from Sept. 1, 2022, to Aug. 31 reflected the decrease in criminal activity when compared with the same time period the year before.
Arita said decreases in various crimes included a 4% drop in assaults cases, a 31% decrease in burglary cases, that criminal property damage cases are down by 28%, that overall theft cases decreased by 6% and that unauthorized entry into motor vehicles dropped by 35%.
But upticks in certain Waikiki crimes did occur, such as disorderly conduct cases, which rose by about 37%. Despite the rise, Arita said HPD officers have been busy arresting disorderly people and also have been kept busy responding to complaints of loud noise.
“Overall, to accomplish all of this, we utilize our regular patrol officers,” said Arita, “but we also dedicate a lot of our specialized units, such as our crime reduction unit, our vice squad detail and foot patrol officers and our community policing team.”
He said HPD has seen overall improvements to Waikiki parks, streets and sidewalks. And he added that a future goal for the program is to better address mental illness and to partner with the homeless prevention nonprofit the Institute for Human Services, as well as with the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association.
“We want to assist in this process by identifying persons that need assistance, working with our partners, making sure they get that assistance,” Arita said, adding this collaboration helps free officers to address other types of calls for service.
At Tuesday’s event, Bob Finley, chair of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that Safe and Sound Waikiki appeared to be working. He noted that things like beach closures at night and geographic restrictions on arrested criminal defendants helped curb unwanted activity in Waikiki.
“The reduction of crime has been wonderful,” Finley said.
Meantime, the anti-crime initiative in Waikiki is a welcome change for many who are invested in Waikiki’s future.
Paul Kosasa, CEO of ABC Stores and board chairman of the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association, said “Waikiki is worth protecting.”
“We’ve a long way to go,” Kosasa added, “but for myself, my goal is just to make this a better place to live.”
Similarly, the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association and IHS intend to ramp up their efforts to improve the neighborhood.
Trevor Abarzua, the business association’s president and executive director, said his group will have “strengthened outreach and intervention programs” to help the homeless.
Under IHS, that will include increased access to services that range from locating emergency shelters to case management, housing navigation, medical treatment, behavioral health treatment, substance abuse detoxification and employment support, according to Abarzua.
Private force
After the news conference, the mayor’s office responded to questions over private security being used to supplement law enforcement in Waikiki — an effort that is not an official part of the city’s Safe and Sound Waikiki initiative.
“In June, the city, using post-pandemic recovery funds, hired Matt Levi Security to help augment HPD with a security team seven days a week,” Scott Humber, the mayor’s director of communications, told the Star-Advertiser via email. “They cover shifts of 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., and it is two teams of two. This is in addition to HPD. They patrol the area from HPD substation to the Waikiki Zoo. They are made up primarily of off-duty police officers or former HPD.”
He stressed this “specialized security task force” does not have police powers.
“They are there more to deter and prevent things from happening. If something does happen they reach out to HPD for support,” said Humber. “They are all badged officers with training and experience. They are there strictly to support HPD.”
The city’s six-month contract with Levi’s group was for $450,000. After the contract expires Nov. 30, the mayor will make the determination to continue the pilot project, Humber said.
According to the city’s 2024 fiscal year budget, which began July 1, HPD’s District 6 serves Waikiki with 171 authorized officers. Overall, HPD’s latest budget is $352.87 million.
