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Puna Sees Rise in Property Crimes
#1
Police say there has been an uptick in property crimes in Puna — especially auto thefts and auto break-ins.
According to statistics from the Hawaii Police Department, there were 45 reports of auto thefts and 32 reports of unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle in November in Puna. That compares to 21 reports of a stolen vehicle and 17 reports of vehicle break-ins in Puna in September, two months earlier.




Capt. Scott Amaral, commander of Puna Patrol Division, noted that property crimes “are up in the past few months, in our district.”
According to police, 24 of the November auto theft reports were from Pahoa addresses, and 18 were from Keaau.
Nineteen of the November vehicle break-ins were from Keaau, while nine were from Pahoa.
He added that many of those thefts were reported in the Hawaiian Beaches and Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivisions.
“We have seen an increase of thefts of vehicles, as well as car break-ins, in those areas,” Amaral said. “There’s a particular group of individuals that we believe are responsible, and we’ve got our Special Enforcement Unit working on it, along with Community Policing officers, trying to bring that down.”
Amaral said many of those break-ins and thefts are crimes of opportunity. He said a police media release in September asked people to not park in isolated areas, leave their cars unlocked or their windows down, leave their keys in their cars or valuables within the vehicles.
“We put that out to the Neighborhood Watches to put out to the (homeowners’) associations, as well — and we still have the same issues, especially with people just not locking their cars or leaving their keys … inside the car,” Amaral said.
Another hot spot for vehicle thefts and break-ins is Government Beach Road in lower Puna “in the area of Mermaid Ponds, down by Highway 137, the old Four Corners,” Amaral said.
Mermaid Ponds is one of the few remaining tide pools along the Puna coastline that wasn’t inundated by the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kilauea volcano, which makes it a popular spot for swimming.
“You know, people are parking in these isolated spots, leaving their cars on the side of the road,” he said. “We’ve had both break-ins and cars stolen … especially down at Mermaid Ponds. … People go back to their cars after they’re swimming,” to find their cars broken into or stolen, Amaral said.
He said because the owners are away from their cars, thieves can leave the area long before the victims find out a crime has been committed and report it to the police.
Burglaries, long a problem in Puna, are up as well. There were 16 burglaries reported in all of Puna in September. In November, there were 15 burglaries reported in Keaau alone, plus eight in Pahoa and three in Mountain View for a total of 26.
James Barker, who resides in HPP and, by his account, talks often to neighbors, said he’s become “increasingly concerned about the incidents, the break-ins and the thievery going on.”
He said thieves are “roosting” at the lower end of the subdivision, near the more expensive homes on the shorefront, casing the neighborhood for possible marks.
“One of the guys at the corner of 1st Avenue and Makuu (Drive), he’s been broken into three times in recent months,” Barker said.
Barker described another recent incident in HPP as a “blatant and reckless” daylight heist of a vehicle from a yard.
“One lady was in her house. She has a dog, and she has a sensor light. And (thieves) came in the middle of the day … and quietly pushed her pickup out of the driveway,” Barker said, adding the truck was later found, wrecked.
Amaral noted the holiday season is prime time for thieves seeking to steal shoppers’ holiday cheer, and law-abiding citizens need to take note of their surroundings at all times and not “be an easy target.”
“We just need people to be aware,” he said. “Don’t park in isolated areas. Even at home, lock your car doors, take your keys inside.
“Don’t think that just because you’re home, something can’t happen. If you have a gate, close your gate. Those kinds of basic things will help significantly.”




The department’s Community Policing teams can assist public members wanting to increase their ability to fight back against becoming a victim of crime. Call (808) 961-2350 in East Hawaii and (808) 326-4646, ext. 259 in West Hawaii.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Keep it local  Heart
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#2
(12-08-2021, 10:55 PM)Ho\oponopono I really don't think thieves are interested in stealing anyones holiday cheer according to officer Amaral. They'd much rather steal your weed eater or Toyota probably,  and never even think of your holiday mood Wrote: Police say there has been an uptick in property crimes in Puna — especially auto thefts and auto break-ins.
According to statistics from the Hawaii Police Department, there were 45 reports of auto thefts and 32 reports of unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle in November in Puna. That compares to 21 reports of a stolen vehicle and 17 reports of vehicle break-ins in Puna in September, two months earlier.




Capt. Scott Amaral, commander of Puna Patrol Division, noted that property crimes “are up in the past few months, in our district.”
According to police, 24 of the November auto theft reports were from Pahoa addresses, and 18 were from Keaau.
Nineteen of the November vehicle break-ins were from Keaau, while nine were from Pahoa.
He added that many of those thefts were reported in the Hawaiian Beaches and Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivisions.
“We have seen an increase of thefts of vehicles, as well as car break-ins, in those areas,” Amaral said. “There’s a particular group of individuals that we believe are responsible, and we’ve got our Special Enforcement Unit working on it, along with Community Policing officers, trying to bring that down.”
Amaral said many of those break-ins and thefts are crimes of opportunity. He said a police media release in September asked people to not park in isolated areas, leave their cars unlocked or their windows down, leave their keys in their cars or valuables within the vehicles.
“We put that out to the Neighborhood Watches to put out to the (homeowners’) associations, as well — and we still have the same issues, especially with people just not locking their cars or leaving their keys … inside the car,” Amaral said.
Another hot spot for vehicle thefts and break-ins is Government Beach Road in lower Puna “in the area of Mermaid Ponds, down by Highway 137, the old Four Corners,” Amaral said.
Mermaid Ponds is one of the few remaining tide pools along the Puna coastline that wasn’t inundated by the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kilauea volcano, which makes it a popular spot for swimming.
“You know, people are parking in these isolated spots, leaving their cars on the side of the road,” he said. “We’ve had both break-ins and cars stolen … especially down at Mermaid Ponds. … People go back to their cars after they’re swimming,” to find their cars broken into or stolen, Amaral said.
He said because the owners are away from their cars, thieves can leave the area long before the victims find out a crime has been committed and report it to the police.
Burglaries, long a problem in Puna, are up as well. There were 16 burglaries reported in all of Puna in September. In November, there were 15 burglaries reported in Keaau alone, plus eight in Pahoa and three in Mountain View for a total of 26.
James Barker, who resides in HPP and, by his account, talks often to neighbors, said he’s become “increasingly concerned about the incidents, the break-ins and the thievery going on.”
He said thieves are “roosting” at the lower end of the subdivision, near the more expensive homes on the shorefront, casing the neighborhood for possible marks.
“One of the guys at the corner of 1st Avenue and Makuu (Drive), he’s been broken into three times in recent months,” Barker said.
Barker described another recent incident in HPP as a “blatant and reckless” daylight heist of a vehicle from a yard.
“One lady was in her house. She has a dog, and she has a sensor light. And (thieves) came in the middle of the day … and quietly pushed her pickup out of the driveway,” Barker said, adding the truck was later found, wrecked.
Amaral noted the holiday season is prime time for thieves seeking to steal shoppers’ holiday cheer, and law-abiding citizens need to take note of their surroundings at all times and not “be an easy target.”
“We just need people to be aware,” he said. “Don’t park in isolated areas. Even at home, lock your car doors, take your keys inside.
“Don’t think that just because you’re home, something can’t happen. If you have a gate, close your gate. Those kinds of basic things will help significantly.”




The department’s Community Policing teams can assist public members wanting to increase their ability to fight back against becoming a victim of crime. Call (808) 961-2350 in East Hawaii and (808) 326-4646, ext. 259 in West Hawaii.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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#3
We don't really need to quote someone's super long post in order to reply to them. Especially if that super long post is directly adjacent to your reply.
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#4
(12-09-2021, 03:18 PM)AaronM Wrote: We don't really need to quote someone's super long post in order to reply to them.  Especially if that super long post is directly adjacent to your reply.


And apologies for the super long post.  Yesterday was the first day of "premium articles" with The Tribune, you now have to sign up to get certain articles, like the one above, for free.  So I thought that some folks might just appreciate being able to read the article without all of the hassle and/or expense.
Keep it local  Heart
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#5
The jail's revolving door has only gotten worse since Covid. They need some time in a pillory.
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#6
Criminal: automatically billing my credit card $9.99/month (+3.99% surcharge) to learn about property crime after I've already paid taxes to fund the police reports about said crime (and probably some bailout of the newspaper "because COVID").
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#7
Big Grin 
Interesting that it only took 5 responses to the initial post to infect the thread with Covid!  Heh

Didn't I read about one motivated officer who set up some sort of sting operation where folks park to go to Mermaid Pools?  Seems like more of that would be the way to go.  

Perhaps a booby trapped car that covers the perp in indelible pink florescent dye when they grab some shiny treasure left on the front seat.  Is it legal to booby trap your own car?   Maybe a citizen led initiative could resolve this sticky finger situation!
Keep it local  Heart
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#8
Big Grin 
"...it only took 5 responses to the initial post to infect the thread with Covid!"

That's called (Punaweb) community spread. Big Grin
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#9
The property crime situation in Puna is bad. There are effective ways to dial it back but the CoH doesn't exhibit much interest in doing that. Conventional wisdom is there are family connections between the several crime families living in Puna and the police department. I don't know. What I do know is every time I have tried to engage the uppers in the P.D. they have shown zero interest. They don't like mere citizens making suggestions...

I've known Mitch Roth for a long time and intend to broach the topic with him in person after the new year.
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#10
"I've known Mitch Roth for a long time . . . " - Rob Tucker

So have I, and he doesn't have the constitution (backbone) to challenge the status quo of law enforcement or anything else. I base this on face to face conversations that I have had with him before, during, and after he became prosecutor. He had a chance in the aforementioned office to shake up the criminal justice system, but didn't. When I asked him about one particularly galling plea bargain for a violent crime, he used the usual excuse that the police didn't give him the evidence he needed and that the judges wouldn't give harsher sentences anyway. I immediately suggested that he make a strong public statement to that effect to shake things up, and he got this horrified look and tried to change the subject. So much for courage of conviction, no pun intended. My own opinion is that his ambition for higher political office precluded any challenge to the good old boy system. Roth is now part of that system and in the pockets of the public employees unions and power brokers. Same old you know what.
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