Does Downtown Pahoa need a 'beat cop'?

[Kapoho Joe]

If so, how would we go about getting one?

If not, why not?

[Guest]

Pahoa needs two upbeat and friendly beat cops either on horses or bikes day and NIGHT.

[Kapoho Joe]

Leave the horses alone. Mounted patrol is a thing of the past, useful for ceremonies at best. Bikes might work, just no segways please.

[leilanidude]

Yes, they do. From all of the accounts coming out, this fire was the result of squatters/homeless/drugs, etc.

[Kiana]

It seems so. Yes! Please!

[Chunkster]

The concept of a "beat cop" is alien to the culture of the Hawaii County PD. I know because I have asked both regular officers and higher ups in the department. They prefer to eventually send somebody around after things have gotten out of control rather than do preemptive policing, saying they don't have the manpower for it.

[Tink]

Somebody put a Malasada shop in downtown!

Community begins with Aloha

[shockwave rider]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kapoho Joe

Leave the horses alone. Mounted patrol is a thing of the past, useful for ceremonies at best. Bikes might work, just no segways please.

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Horse patrols are still used in many places as effective crowd control and as "beat" cops in urban areas. They have the advantage of allowing the cops to see over things that a person on foot could not, and in a crowd control situation can be very intimidating. When I lived in NYC I was in a neighborhood near the NYP stables, so our beat cops were on horseback, they also served as the beat cops for Central Park and most of lower Manhattan because they were so well suited for both the wide open spaces of the park and the narrow streets and alleys of the 5 Points area. These were not "ceremonial" duties, these were challenging patrol areas with real crime and public safety issues.

Horse patrols are also are a great icebreaker with the law abiding public because so many people really like horses.

That said, Pahoa is too small to justify a horse patrol.

[terracore]

"how would we go about getting one?"

I'm sure common sense doesn't apply here, but in other communities it all boils down to numbers and contracts. For example if a full-time police officer costs $100,000.00 per year, whoever has the money enters a contract with the police to provide them with $100k and they in exchange get 20-30 hours of policing (the rest of the hours get lost to training hours, sick and annual leave, 'administrative duties', etc.

When I lived in Portland the fed DOT offered two full-time police officers salaries who's hours were to be dedicated solely to policing the mass transit. PDX had to decline the free money because DOT rules required the officers to be subject to random drug tests, which was against the contract the police union had negotiated with the city. This was nearly ~25 years ago, long before the legalization movement had the traction of the last decade.

But pointing out the hypocrisy aside, the possible answer is, find a grant writer who can secure the funds for dedicated community policing and start a dialog with the county. A beat officer won't need the vehicle reimbursement, that alone should chop off $10k/year from the cost.

[SBH]

Yes, we can't afford enough police to reduce crime in Pahoa, but we can afford $25 million for more baseball fields in Pahoa and another $25 million for phase II. Just don't go there in the dark.