LIHU’E – Kaua’i businesses can install better door and window locks, alarm and surveillance systems, and that may help deter crime. But to cut down on crime, Kauai Police Department officials say businesses, police, the community and society in general
LIHU’E – Kaua’i businesses can install better door and window locks, alarm and surveillance systems, and that may help deter crime.
But to cut down on crime, Kauai Police Department officials say businesses, police, the community and society in general need to work together to cut down on drug use and domestic violence.
Criminal elements are being raised in abusive families, and drugs and a general erosion of moral values form the perfect breeding ground for current and future generations of criminals, said KPD Lt. Miles Tanabe.
Take away domestic-related homicides and the island’s murder rate would be cut in half, he said. Kaua’i has one of the worst rates of domestic violence in the country among counties, and most women who end up in the emergency room aren’t there as victims of traffic accidents, but as victims of domestic abuse, he said.
The KPD has trained, expert speakers on subjects like the newest drugs, signs of use and symptoms, family-abuse issues, even how to prevent acceptance of bad checks, available for scheduling through the community relations division, 241-6716, he said.
Business security checks, which look at door and window locks, and offer advice on how businesses can make their businesses harder for criminals to enter, and can even offer advice on operational matters like how cash is handled, can also be scheduled, said Tanabe.
Businesses can assist in crime-reduction by not turning blind eyes to employees who report to work with signs they have been battered, by taking some time, money and energy up front to do thorough background checks including drug testing on prospective employees, and by taking visible stands that they’re not going to tolerate criminals, or criminal activity, he said.
Further, businesses need to take every precaution to make sure employees hired are reputable, and by spending some up-front time and money on a prospective employee, both in terms of background checks and training, those employees will be productive and satisfied, he said.
Employees, he said, are oftentimes left to tend to extremely valuable assets of a company, as well as cash, something business owners should be reluctant to do with an employee with a questionable history, he said.
Some common-sense fixes have also worked to deter crime both on Kaua’i and across the state, he explained. At Princeville, a rash of three to four home burglaries a week dropped by 90 percent after a community-watch program was implemented.
In other communities in the state, simple business-district beautification had the impact of reducing crime in the area, he said. Criminals tend to target run-down areas where it looks like a community does not care, increasing the likelihood that crime will go unreported.
But gone are the days of sleepy towns on Kaua’i where everybody knew everybody, most people were related to one another, businesses left doors unlocked, there was little or no crime, and criminals feared the police because if the miscreants were caught acting up, they would be served with physical justice through a good beating, Tanabe said.
“In the old days, the community was the police. We need to get back to that idea,” he said while addressing the Lihue Business Association meeting Thursday morning at Fenton Lee’s Hawaiian Classic Desserts bakery and restaurant on Rice Street here.
In the 1970s, there was a movement toward instilling further professionalism in the police by putting a bit of distance between police and the public, he said. In the 1990s, it was realized that that wasn’t a good strategy, he said.
Still, with today’s air-conditioned patrol cars with the windows rolled up, there is still some physical separation from citizens, and that may be part of the reason there is something of a community perception that police officers don’t care, said Tanabe.
But if businesses are expecting KPD officers to actively patrol business districts, they may be disappointed. Just 10 officers are on the road on a given night, and three to four officers are charged with patrolling an area from Halfway Bridge to the center of Kapa’a town, he said.
For that reason, community and business awareness are crucial to the KPD, he continued.
If businesses are victimized by criminals, the best evidence is witnesses, said Sgt. Michael Contrades. Owners should not touch anything after being victimized, and not reporting crimes to police quickly spreads the word among the criminal community that the business is an easy target, Tanabe added.
“That’s got to stop,” Tanabe said of any businesses failing to report any crime to police.
Where Lihu’e is concerned, the beat has some of KPD’s best officers on duty, said Contrades. The current month has not seen too many business burglaries in the Lihu’e area, though in the previous months there had been some, he said.
“They also take burglary personally,” said Contrades of officers under his command. They feel they haven’t done their jobs if burglaries continue and they can’t catch the culprits, and will hide in bushes and trees, and behind parked cars, to try to catch criminals in the act.
Something like that happened when a rash of burglaries was reported in the Lihue Industrial Park area, Contrades said. The officers are trying hard, and appreciate community support, he added.
Finally, the KPD wants to know when it’s doing something right, and when it’s doing something wrong, Tanabe said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
