When crime strikes, tourists have a friend

Volunteers reach out to visitorsBy PAUL C. CURTIS

TGI Staff Writer

A small, islandwide group of volunteers reaches

out to visitors who are victims of crime on Kaua’i, trying to take some of the

sting out of being traumatized in paradise.

Oftentimes, when a member of

the Visitor Aloha Society of Kaua’i calls a vacationer who has become a crime

victim, the visitor is pleasantly surprised. Out of the blue comes a telephone

call, and on the other end of the phone is someone who wants to help, who

cares, the visitors sense.

“They seemed to be so happy to tell someone

their story,” said the Rev. Fred Wenger, a volunteer since Visitor Aloha formed

two years ago. “They’ve got a story to tell because they’ve been through an

ordeal.”

Many of the visitors have suffered losses through car and hotel

break-ins. One woke up to find an intruder in the hotel room, said Pam Brown,

society board president.

During a volunteer training session at the Kaua’i

Marriott Resort & Beach Club last week, volunteers were congratulated and

thanked for their efforts. They learned more about the proper way to assist

visitors who are victims of crime.

Visitor Aloha Society was formed in 1998

“to give a little aloha to crime victims,” said Brown. She said the “terrific

public-private partnership” between the organization, Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and

the Kaua’i Police makes the organization effective.

Kusaka tried to start a

similar organization before, but people thought it was politically motivated

and didn’t back the idea, Brown told the 20 people gathered for volunteer

training.

Police chief George Freitas said there is only so much officers

can do to assist visitors who become crime victims on Kaua’i, and Visitor Aloha

Society serves an important function for victims.

“They’re in our house,

something unfortunate has happened to them, and we want to help them out,”

Freitas said.

The group’s work “puts a positive closure on a negative

situation, he continued.

Freitas said that more times than not, it will be

the small things an officer says to and does for a crime victim (being polite,

courteous and understanding, for example), rather than the big things, that the

victim is likely to remember and be impressed with.

It’s almost like

recovering the wallet, purse or camera becomes a happy plus to what has already

been a positive encounter with authorities, Freitas said.

Freitas thanked

Brown and Laurie Yoshida, Visitor Aloha Society’s executive director, for their

efforts.

“That lady Pam Brown, I don’t know where she gets her energy,”

said Freitas. Yoshida “keeps it all going,” he added.

A film of the

volunteer training will shown to police recruits learning how to deal with

crime victims.

Freitas said it makes sense for officials of the visitor

industry to be involved in Visitor Aloha Society, as unfavorable reports of

visitors becoming victims can hurt the island and the state’s most important

industry – tourism.

Brown recalled an incident that happened to Brad

Snyder, head of Marriott’s Pacific Islands operations.

Snyder was on a

panel in Japan discussing how Hawai’i can do a better job attracting Japanese

visitors, and the first question to him was about the crime rate in Hawai’i,

Brown recalled.

Snyder, who was instrumental in getting Visitor Aloha

Society started, said the experience hit home for him, especially when

discussing the ripple effect visitor crime has in the visitor’s home town.

Marriott’s security department acts as dispatcher for the volunteers,

after police officers fax crime reports involving visitors to the hotel.

A

volunteer is assigned the case, which can involve as little as five minutes of

their time via telephone, and up to six days in at least one case (the

volunteer and victim became friends).

A four-page list of concerned

individuals and businesses offering free or reduced-price goods and services to

visitors who are victims of crime shows the program has widespread community

support.

But, as Wenger says, “the caring, the warmth, they’ll remember”

much longer than the freebies.

Dr. Dianne Girard, a psychologist on the

island, explained that victims are angry, frustrated, unsure of what they

should do next, and full of feelings of shock and grief, with many “would’ves”

and “should’ves” dancing through their heads.

They’ll also carry long-term

attitudes about Kaua’i, she continued.

Volunteers must keep the focus on

the person, and don’t tell him or her “this happens all the time,” or “this

hardly ever happens,” Girard said. “They don’t care about statistics, because

they’re the only victim.”

Volunteers shouldn’t feel they have to try to

recover the stolen goods, or reverse whatever happened to the victim.

“The

idea is to give the victim the feeling that they’re connecting with another

human being,” whether in person or in writing (some crime victims have left the

island before they can be contacted), Girard said.

“If there’s nothing you

can do besides listen to them, that’s OK, and that’s enough. And that’s a lot,”

she said. “That’s the whole thing.”

The work of Visitor Aloha Society is

funded by the Hawai’i Tourism Authority, an annual grant from the Hawai’i Hotel

Association’s Kaua’i chapter through proceeds from the Visitor Industry Charity

Walk, A&B Foundation and other organizations.

Staff writer Paul C.

Curtis can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) and

pcurtis@pulitzer.net

Staff Photo by Dennis Fujimoto

More often

than not, visitors to Kaua’i such as Heather and Tom Gurth of Washington, D.C.,

who arrived Monday at Lihu’e Airport, will have a crime-free stay on the

island. For those who don’t, there’s Visitor Aloha Society of Kaua’i, a

volunteer group that tries to take some of the sting out of the

unpleasantness.