02-11-2008, 09:45 AM
When people who have to go outside to smoke (outside, where the weather is a balmy 65-70 degrees even at midnight)start smacking each other around, I suspect there is a deeper problem than being forced to smoke outside.
Letting the bars stay open so late, though, gives people plenty of chances to get fueled up. Alcohol plus testosterone poisoning can equal violence pretty easily.
The most disturbing aspect of this is the attitude of the police. You've got a video. Could you investigate? I hate the surveillance society, but perhaps a little human surveillance or even surveillance of the artificial kind might help.
Really, any concerted effort might help. One of the disappointing aspects of the islands for me is that there is no one to maintain civil order. It is a little like New Orleans. The difference, I think, in Hawaii is that there was never really a culture where people needed a lot of protection, but now, with Ice and the economy, the culture is changing for the worse, and the law enforcement culture has not caught up, nor will it. Law enforcement in Hawaii cannot be taken seriously while the police are understaffed, underpaid, undertrained, and have strap-on blue lights.
Letting the bars stay open so late, though, gives people plenty of chances to get fueled up. Alcohol plus testosterone poisoning can equal violence pretty easily.
The most disturbing aspect of this is the attitude of the police. You've got a video. Could you investigate? I hate the surveillance society, but perhaps a little human surveillance or even surveillance of the artificial kind might help.
Really, any concerted effort might help. One of the disappointing aspects of the islands for me is that there is no one to maintain civil order. It is a little like New Orleans. The difference, I think, in Hawaii is that there was never really a culture where people needed a lot of protection, but now, with Ice and the economy, the culture is changing for the worse, and the law enforcement culture has not caught up, nor will it. Law enforcement in Hawaii cannot be taken seriously while the police are understaffed, underpaid, undertrained, and have strap-on blue lights.