By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
A substation has been set up in Kihei to help combat
crime. In front of their temporary base are, from left,
officers George Fontaine, Barbara Knoeppel, Orlino "Oly"
Noneza Jr. and Brad Hickle.
South Maui residents
unite to fight crime
The community suffers more
By Gary T. Kubota
car thefts and murders
than Lahaina
Star-BulletinKIHEI, Maui -- Tired of people gathering in a 1.9-acre vacant field to use and sell drugs, south Maui resident Troy Gossman took several photographs of vagrants using drugs and turned the pictures over to police.
"I did it for my own protection to identify the people if ever necessary," Gossman said.
With an estimated 18,000 residents and up to 16,000 visitors daily, south Maui is beginning to rival and sometimes exceed the resort town of Lahaina in crime.
South Maui has been one of the fastest growing communities in the state with more than 105 hotels and resort condominiums along 14 miles of coast from Maalaea to La Perouse Bay.
It's grown by an estimated 16 percent in the past eight years.
For the past two years, more vehicles have been stolen in south Maui than in Lahaina, according to Maui police.
The number of attempted murders and murders totaled five in south Maui in 1997, compared with two in Lahaina, police statistics show.
Some of the most violent crimes on Maui in the past three years have occurred within a few hundred yards of South Kihei Road, which extends along a major part of this community.
They include the killing of Vilmar Cabaccang in a car break-in, the stabbing of a female visitor and her two sons in their condominium by a robber, and the death of 17-year-old Aisha Tolentino in a hostage standoff.
To combat the problem, the county has put more police in south Maui and plans to build a police substation in Kihei.
A temporary substation has been located in the center of Kihei near Foodland, with house and furnishings donated by businesses and residents.
It's also the headquarters for more than 40 residents who have been trained by police as citizen patrol volunteers. They mainly patrol the beaches and call police when they see a crime.
Police Lt. George Fontaine, in charge of the south Maui patrols, said the citizen patrols are a major reason why break-ins at beaches have decreased by 80 percent from two years ago.
Overall, property crimes and violent crimes in south Maui dropped 26 percent in 1997.
Fontaine, also the Kihei Community Association president, said people in south Maui have been generous and resilient in fighting crime.
For example, when $500 worth of plants were stolen from the temporary substation, the community raised another $500 and had the plants in the ground in two weeks.
"That's the kind of public commitment they have to community policing," Fontaine said. "It's mind-boggling."
Fontaine said the lack of recreational space and an economy requiring two-income households and less family time also contribute to increasing violence, including domestic abuse.
"We have people struggling here to make it financially," he said. "Where do you go to blow off steam?"
In the past, the community has been the victim of poor planning, with developers allowed to give the county money rather than provide neighborhood park space, Fontaine said.
The county is building a regional swimming pool complex and a multipurpose playing field across from Kihei School.
But it is not moving forward with plans to develop a regional park on 150 acres of county land in Kihei and has opposed designating a 1.9-acre parcel as park at Kamaole Point.
Mayor Linda Lingle said she believes the parcel can be a valuable addition to adjacent county beach parks but didn't want to be locked into purchasing it if the price is too high.
Fontaine's association supports the purchase of the parcel at Kamaole Point.
Fontaine said the land, now vacant, was the place where Gossman took the photographs of the drug users, and police have contacted the landowner to evict them from the property.
He said a park would help to solve the crime problem.
