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Just read an article in the Hilo paper - the article itself was about Shipman putting boulders across Beach road to prevent vehicles from entering Shipman land - they claim there's be too many problems with large groups (hundreds they said - ?) having parties, plus dumping trash, thefts, etc. However, what also caught my attention was Shipman saying they had to do something since the police wouldn't - a police representative was quoted saying there was nothing the police can do about such activity since they only have four officers between Keeau and Kalapana. Four? Puna's supposed to have around 40,000 population - and I think I read somewhere HPP alone has around 10,000. The number of our officers seems incredibly thin! Out of curiosity, I checked on the size of the police department of Eureka, California (used to live there is why it popped to mind as an example). Eureka has a population of 28,000, and has 43 police officers plus 26 other staff. There are continually threads on Punaweb about thefts, lack of police support, etc. Well, if there are 4 officers for Puna, and 43 for a smaller population in Eureka, you may not have to look far for cause and effect.
Olin
Posts: 2,149
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I was at that meeting, and that's exactly what was said. It's no secret that the police in Puna are seriously undermanned, and our county government has no end of excuses for why its that way. Such staffing would never be tolerated in Hilo. Adequate police protection is an issue that is cropping up over on the election forum, but it can't be repeated too often or in too many places. Mayoral and Council candidates must be prepared to give more than lip service to ending this situation. This has cost lives in the past, and will in the future if nothing is done.
Cheers,
Jerry
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This FBI site may be of interest. I'm not sure of the difference between tables 70 and 71 are. Both indicate that the police presence is too low in Puna. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/law_enfor...index.html or for 2006: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/police/index.html
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
This is going to sound strange in a way....
But about three weeks ago I was talking to someone about how many cops there are now!
10 years ago, you could go weeks without seeing an officer.
Is it enough, of course not. [  ][  ]
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It is the way... the way it is.
Posts: 1,779
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No police? But, wait, haven't you heard, the Police Chief has said that Federal funds or not, Green Harvest must go on!
Gee, I might have thought that meant police resources were abundant.
[humor never was my best suit -- best not give up my day job [that I do not have] ]
Seriously, these silly helicopter garden parties costs megabuck$ ! and all the while we have people dieing in auto crashes, women hitchhikers being raped, home break ins, and on an on.
ENOUGH!
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
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Really!
And while SHOPO and the county debate private luxury vehicles vs $60,000 cruisers, what we really need (in Pahoa anyway) is a beat cop walking the sidewalk, talking to residents, twirling a nightstick, and making a presence.
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I think all of us were well aware of the police presences, or lack there of before we moved here to Puna. It wasn't coined the "wild, wild west", back twenty years ago for nothing! I assume everybody knew damn well what they were getting themselves in by moving to Puna.
"When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?"
George Carlin
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Support the 'Jack Herer Initiative'NOW!!
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I'm continually mystified that governments everywhere I've been seem so reluctant to spend more on police, and so eager to cut back on what they've already got. Is our perception of the crime rate wrong? Even so, surely any politician up for election can hope for some easy votes by promising more police. Is it so prohibitely expensive? They don't earn huge amounts and in a way it's a job that can pay for itself - simply enforcing existing laws can provide a revenue stream.
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Joined: Feb 2006
Beachboy, just because we knew there were deficiencies when we moved here does not mean we shouldn't try to improve what needs to be improved. At the HPPOA meeting I attended Sunday, Officer Briski told us that the police in Puna are so short-handed that they have to make tough decisions on what calls to respond to. Sometimes they are not able to respond at all to nuisance and quality of life infractions, which is unfortunate, but understandable from the officer's point of view. It is the politicians and police administrators who let the front-line cops and citizens down by not allocating resources appropriately.
Dr. Weatherford, I agree that Green Harvest is a useless diversion of scarce police resources. I would rather have a few more beat cops in Puna than keep paying for the Rambo Squad to do commando raids from helicopters.
Cheers,
Jerry
Posts: 2,980
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A stronger, well-prioritized police presence is what is needed in Puna. Puna is a pretty good example of the problem with the country at large. Policing has gotten away from maintaining the public order and has gravitated to where the money is: helicopters, ropes, and dope. The number one problem in Puna, above all, is larceny. When you can't keep boards on a job site, that area has problems. I don't think it is much of an excuse to say we came to the problem. Problems are made for solving, and people who live in Puna or have a stake there have a right to direct its future. Instead of sniffing us to see how deeply we breathe, our representatives (including district representatives in HPP although their powers are circumscribed) need to make this our number one priority.
What shocks me is not the crimes I read about, but the "whaddya gonna do?" non-reaction from the police to those crimes. I think Jerry is right. This needs to be expressed --and often-- through our representatives.
Ultimately, I think it will also be important to permit districts to retain more of their tax revenues and to have some say over how those revenues are used. I think crime would be high on the list in Puna.
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