Kaua‘i communities apparently are currently going through one of the island’s burglary spurts. When I first arrived in July 2011, the editor explained that every now and then a few individuals go on a home break-in spree. It becomes clear
Kaua‘i communities apparently are currently going through one of the island’s burglary spurts.
When I first arrived in July 2011, the editor explained that every now and then a few individuals go on a home break-in spree. It becomes clear who the culprits are as they are eventually caught, and the burglary rate spike suddenly falls.
Residents who attend community meetings around the island often ask police for more patrols as a crime deterrent. That might be effective. However, police usually respond that manpower is limited and that calls from residents with detailed information about intruders or suspicious activity is usually more effective.
USA on Watch, a program of the National Sheriff’s Association, recommends that an effort begin with organizing as many neighbors as possible. Contact the local police to schedule a meeting to discuss concerns and develop an action plan specific to the community.
The National Neighborhood Watch Institute recommends that groups create forms for each home in the neighborhood. Begin with a family data sheet to record descriptions, contacts, special needs and other information that is helpful for your neighbors to know.
Next, create a block map with the names of each resident, their address, color of the home and phone. A telephone tree allows one person on watch to essentially contact the entire neighborhood in minutes. Each neighbor is assigned a call list of one to three people who follow through with their call lists.
Finally, make a household inventory sheet of credit cards and valuables with serial numbers, cost at purchase, descriptions and location.
The idea of a neighborhood watch is more about instilling community as a natural deterrent than of creating a militant defense structure. A functioning neighborhood is interactive, and having at least one annual social event is an effective recruiting strategy.
As few as 5 percent of neighbors initiate a crime watch program, according to National Night Out, a year-long community building campaign. It is its effectiveness as a community that serves as a magnet to others.
Last year’s National Night Out campaign involved more than 37 million people worldwide, including citizens, police, civic leaders, businesses and organizations. The 29th National Night Out is Aug. 7.
On Kaua‘i, neighbors in Princeville have established a program. The Kilauea Neighborhood Association last week spoke about the formation of its own task force to look into drug and crime prevention efforts.
The effort started in January when resident Collette Johnson brought the issue of drug houses to a meeting. The former soccer coach said some of the teenage girls she worked with are now hooked on oxycodone and other narcotics, with some moving on to methamphetamine by age 19.
One couple at a recent Kilauea meeting told of their 19-year-old daughter who suffered severe brain damage from an overdose. This teenager and others like her are winding up influenced by older men who get them hooked, Johnson said.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, the Kilauea Neighborhood Association said it is in touch with Theresa Koki, director of the Kaua‘i County Drug Action Team and Drug Prevention Coalition. The program was formed in 2006 and takes a holistic approach to drug and alcohol prevention with education, law enforcement, treatment and community integration.
Each section of the island has its own task force, and Kilauea is with the Eastside Coalition. Enforcement is one component, but there are also after-school programs and mentoring to build life skills and enhance character development in students.
As for enforcement, Acting Deputy Chief Mark Begley of the Kaua‘i Police Department said at last week’s Kilauea Neighborhood Association meeting that crime investigations need good intelligence gathering. Community information is as vital for the details it provides investigators and their own surveillance, he said.
Begley said that officers typically have 10 community sources who provide information about particular beats.
Organized neighborhood efforts to collect detailed information on suspicious activity include noting license plates, the makes and models of cars, dates and times of activity and descriptions of people.
Begley said that community members have a legal right to observe and record video of criminal activity that is occurring in their presence. The police cannot request that citizens conduct this activity or the courts could consider those collecting the evidence as an agent of the state, and the information obtained could be suppressed at trial.
Deputy County Attorney Justin Kollar at the same meeting said the drug world operates in an arena of its own.
It takes investigators months to establish trust through informants to set up the encounters that will result in drug busts. Community information is vital to this process, he said.
The positive side, Kollar said, is to listen to the graduates of the 5th Circuit Drug Court. They tell of how drugs destroyed their lives, and that it takes community support and re-integration to stay clean and start again.
County Second Prosecuting Attorney Jake Delaplane at the same meeting said the drug world has changed. Addicts today are looking for prescription medications in their own homes.
“I think a lot of times it is human nature to always be looking to the outside and seeing what is going on in the neighborhood and down the street,” he said. “But it also means looking at what is going on in the homes, as well.”
With extended families living together, this can be a problem, he added.
The case of a 13 year-old already crushing up Oxycodone pills to smoke is one example, Delaplane said.
Parents might look for signs such as pieces of burned aluminum foil or opiate bottles that seem to be empty before the prescription runs out.
Another hard lesson with burglaries is that police can often do little to recover stolen jewelry and precious metals.
Officers recently explained to a Princeville group that thieves sell precious metals to people who melt them down to avoid being identified as stolen.
Still, some will attempt to sell items at the pawn shop or on online through eBay or Craigslist.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
