11-20-2007, 11:47 AM
Thanks for the research saved me some time.
The law appears to have removed some of the troublesome items found in much older communities with laws written and rewritten over decades. Correction, illegal dumping (unless hazardous waste) is unfortunately only a "petty" misdemeanor. Although there is an additional caveat, it just requires in addition to penalties for petty misdemeanors, that the violator must clean up or pay the cost of the cleanup. The enforcement falls on the police or government employee empowered to issue citations so long as they witnessed the violation.
That leaves the weakest link as enforcement. Using NYC as an example, they said they could expend over $4,000 to catch just one illegal dumper. This is for 2 people (both sworn peace officers) staking out areas hoping to catch a dumper, impounding if seen, testifying and for administrative law cost. That's a hefty expense. The problem was they needed to be where the dumping occurred when it happened. Sometimes they hit pay dirt with several violations, and other times they could go a week without anyone illegally dumping in an area. Even with fines topping almost $5,000 for the combined dumper and owner of the vehicle used for dumping, they expend more than they take in. From a resource point, it was very time consuming with no guarantee of success in any particular area
They said that in the late 80's, they redeveloped the entire direction to put more teeth into prevention through fear. First they impound any vehicle caught dumping and a bond equal to the fine has to be posted to get it back. If the violator fails to pay, the vehicle is auctioned with proceeds going right back into catching other dumpers. If found guilty, they get anything back above the fines (which was not normal)
Second, they implemented the Bounty Program where any citizen willing to act as a complainant can do so and receive up to 50% of the fine as a reward. According to their public affairs office, although dumping is still widespread, the number of complaints from citizens has been steady and high. In some areas, community groups organized illegal dumper watchers and literally have stopped the problem. Since every eye could be a complainant, the risk for dumpers has become too high for some.
Third they actively combed through the refuse to identify who dumped the goods. Often someone paid a company who just dumped it there. Many times they said people would panic and admit they did it when the saw the badge. Evidence could lead them to a target that reduced stakeout time because they knew they wee doing it. By reducing the need for stakeout or chance luck of seeing it, they could concentrate on the commercial dumpers who dropped big loads including hazardous waste.
Now, can Hawaii County do the same? Don't know, what do you think?
The law appears to have removed some of the troublesome items found in much older communities with laws written and rewritten over decades. Correction, illegal dumping (unless hazardous waste) is unfortunately only a "petty" misdemeanor. Although there is an additional caveat, it just requires in addition to penalties for petty misdemeanors, that the violator must clean up or pay the cost of the cleanup. The enforcement falls on the police or government employee empowered to issue citations so long as they witnessed the violation.
That leaves the weakest link as enforcement. Using NYC as an example, they said they could expend over $4,000 to catch just one illegal dumper. This is for 2 people (both sworn peace officers) staking out areas hoping to catch a dumper, impounding if seen, testifying and for administrative law cost. That's a hefty expense. The problem was they needed to be where the dumping occurred when it happened. Sometimes they hit pay dirt with several violations, and other times they could go a week without anyone illegally dumping in an area. Even with fines topping almost $5,000 for the combined dumper and owner of the vehicle used for dumping, they expend more than they take in. From a resource point, it was very time consuming with no guarantee of success in any particular area
They said that in the late 80's, they redeveloped the entire direction to put more teeth into prevention through fear. First they impound any vehicle caught dumping and a bond equal to the fine has to be posted to get it back. If the violator fails to pay, the vehicle is auctioned with proceeds going right back into catching other dumpers. If found guilty, they get anything back above the fines (which was not normal)
Second, they implemented the Bounty Program where any citizen willing to act as a complainant can do so and receive up to 50% of the fine as a reward. According to their public affairs office, although dumping is still widespread, the number of complaints from citizens has been steady and high. In some areas, community groups organized illegal dumper watchers and literally have stopped the problem. Since every eye could be a complainant, the risk for dumpers has become too high for some.
Third they actively combed through the refuse to identify who dumped the goods. Often someone paid a company who just dumped it there. Many times they said people would panic and admit they did it when the saw the badge. Evidence could lead them to a target that reduced stakeout time because they knew they wee doing it. By reducing the need for stakeout or chance luck of seeing it, they could concentrate on the commercial dumpers who dropped big loads including hazardous waste.
Now, can Hawaii County do the same? Don't know, what do you think?