Crime on Oahu down overall, but hot spots persist

Honolulu police are thankful crime on Oahu is down so far this year, but officers are managing surges in weapon offenses, murder and assault in some police districts.

Sharing the latest crime statistics last week, Honolulu Police Department Deputy Chief Keith Horikawa told the Honolulu Police Commission that HPD has started a data dashboard — an online searchable display of updated crime statistics, clearance rates, shootings involving officers, crime mapping and other comparable data.

The data shows that islandwide on Saturday compared with Oct. 31, 2022:

>> Assaults are down to 959 from 1,089.

>> The 20 murders so far this year are down from 22 in 2022.

>> Rapes fell to 722 from 767.

>> Burglaries were down to 1,875 from 2,236; larceny theft dropped to 13,581 from 16,723; car thefts, to 2,893 from 3,443; and fraud, to 3,711 from 4,069.

A disclaimer on the dashboard notes that year-to-date searches and comparisons are currently not available. “We apologize for the inconvenience and expect this issue to be resolved in the second phase of this project,” the department says.

“Across the board, our overall crime statistics continue to remain below last year’s numbers,” said Horikawa, addressing commissioners during a meeting Wednesday. “At the individual district level, however, there are some increases in certain areas.”

According to Horikawa:

>> Police District 1, Central Honolulu, is experiencing an 11% increase in burglaries.

>> District 2, which covers Central Oahu, is seeing a 7% increase in aggravated assault and an 8% percent uptick in weapon offenses.

>> District 3, which includes Pearl City, Aiea and Waipahu, is dealing with a 28% surge in assaults and a 15% increase in thefts from vehicles.

>> In District 4, from Makapuu Point to Kawela Bay (HPD’s largest patrol area), weapon offenses are up.

>> In District 5, which includes Kalihi, rapes are up 17%.

>> District 6, Waikiki, is the only patrol district showing no increase in offenses so far this year, Horikawa said.

>> District 7, East Honolulu, has seen an 11% bump in car thefts.

>> District 8, which covers Leeward Oahu, is managing a surge of violence with weapon offenses up 42% and homicides up 80% — nine so far this year, compared with five in 2022.

Prosecution

Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser his office is “encouraged by the overall reduction in crime numbers from around the island.”

“At the same time, if you are a crime victim, no statistic is going to matter. We recognize an increase in certain crimes in some neighborhoods. We are particularly concerned about the rise in the murder rate on the West side. We have met with HPD and public officials to discuss ways to address crime on the West side,” said Alm, who attended a community meeting about drugs and illegal game rooms on the West side in Maile in May following the May shooting death of 17-year-old Miguel Agoo Jr.

“We will certainly aggressively prosecute cases HPD investigates and brings to us,” Alm said. “We will continue working with HPD to close as many game rooms and gambling venues as possible and have dedicated a deputy prosecutor to work full time on this with HPD. Game rooms are crime magnets. Guns and drugs are frequently found in game rooms.”

Alm said prosecutors will “continue our increased focus and increased penalty approach” to traffic offenses to get some of those who show “no respect for the law” or other drivers off the road.

The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney is also trying to educate minors about serious crimes like murder.

“They could be tried in adult court and be looking at life in prison,” Alm said.

Other ideas being explored to keep crime in check include possibly closing parks at night, increasing penalties for gun crimes, and increased education about keeping all firearms locked up at home so they are not used in crimes, for suicides or in terrible accidents involving children, said Alm.

“We all realize that being a parent is really hard. But it does mean that you have a responsibility to supervise your kids as well as you can, to know where they are and who they are hanging out with,” said Alm. “It begins at home. HPD can’t be expected to prevent all crimes. It takes all of us, and parents must play a big role.”

Police Commission Vice Chair Kenneth Silva, a former chief of the Honolulu Fire Department, asked Horikawa whether there is “ongoing analysis” behind the scenes of where crime might be spiking as well as a dive into how officers are mitigating and addressing the increases.

“Each district has … a district information officer focusing on (that). We also have departmentwide assets that focus on crime analysis,” Horikawa said. “At the district they utilize not just stats … but also human input from officers in their assessments as well. We get a good picture of where some of the hot spots are.”

Officers are able to request additional resources to address crime surges, Horikawa confirmed.

“As it is … on an ongoing basis, our CRU (Crime Reduction Unit) are pretty impressive. They belong to the individual district, (but) they also work very closely together,” said Horikawa, referencing the plainclothes tactical units in each police district. “If it’s not a planned (enforcement) event, they will help each other as needed.”

“There seems to be this dynamic, appropriate response to the data to be able to address staffing and address certain areas,” said Commission Chair Doug Chin, who emphasized the need to ensure the data dashboard is highlighted for the public to ensure access to the same crime data officers use.

City Council concern

Honolulu City Council members, including the chair and vice chair of the Committee on Public Safety, pledged resources to shore up staffing and expand the department’s operating budget.

Chair Tommy Waters told the Star-Advertiser that the “solutions to mitigating crime are in front of us and proven.”

“A patrolling police officer is the best deterrent to crime, which has been evidenced by the decreasing crime rates in Waikiki through the ‘Safe and Sound’ initiative. It is clear that continued, thorough investment into protecting our communities has and will continue to pay dividends,” said Waters.

Public Safety Committee Chair Val Okimoto told the Star-Advertiser that the public safety of our communities “is paramount to myself and my Council colleagues.”

Okimoto has supported and continues to back “the necessary funding of our law enforcement.”

“This past fiscal year, the Council funded a nearly $43 million increase in the Honolulu Police Department’s operating budget. We as a Council recognize the high-stress nature of working in the police force, and we believe that an important first step in addressing HPD’s staffing shortages involves improving incentives for enrollment and making HPD a more attractive place to work. That being said, we also need to address the reality that the brazenness of crimes has made it much more difficult to attract qualified HPD recruits,” said Okimoto.

Balancing HPD’s policies and priorities with community concerns is part of the process.

“It is imperative to note that while we support them through adequate budgetary resources, we need the judicial system to align with our communities’ needs as well as enforce the laws in place. Adjustments must be made in order to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of repeat offenders from being released from prison. In many cases, crime continues to escalate because criminals know they can get away with committing crimes,” said Okimoto.

Vice Chair Augie Tulba told the Star-Advertiser that he appreciates the “diligent work of HPD to both track crime across districts” and make the information publicly transparent and available through the new HPD data dashboard.

“Although it is encouraging to hear about the decreasing crime rates in some major categories islandwide, the increasing crime rates by individual districts is troubling. It will take the support of our entire community, working together with HPD and the Council, to address these critical issues,” said Tulba.

Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam told the Star-Advertiser one of the biggest problems HPD faces is its vacancies.

“We can’t expect crime to go down with a department that is operating at half capacity or a third of capacity. Police officers need to be paid enough. Making sure this happens should be a priority as we get closer to budget season,” said Santos-Tam. “In my district it’s important to me that places like Chinatown are given the resources they need. We made sure to include funding for the Mayor’s Chinatown Task Force last year. I want to explore similar things in the coming months, like establishing additional neighborhood security watches.”

He highlighted how crimes are intertwined.

“Robberies, drug dealing, violent crimes — they all feed off of one another. An example of this is in illegal game rooms, where gambling brings in guns, violence and even human trafficking. These types of places can destroy communities. They can break apart families, endanger children and devastate our feeling of safety,” he said. “There are over 100 game rooms on Oahu — that’s more game rooms than there are McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. It’s unacceptable,” he said.

“In my district we had a game room literally across the street from an elementary school,” said Santos-Tam. “We need to give HPD the tools they need to shut these places down and shut them down for good. Our recent ‘game rooms package’ is a start. It can’t end there. It’s our responsibility as elected officials to keep finding innovative ways to protect our communities. That’s what I plan to do.”