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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Manoa not rife with burglaries, police say
Question: Can you tell me what the state of the burglary problem is in lower Manoa? Does the Honolulu Police Department have any statistics on this? Has HPD or the neighborhood board taken any action to address it? We just bought a home in the area, and I'm concerned, especially after learning from a neighbor that everyone on the street has been burglarized at least once.
Answer: According to HPD, there were eight burglaries in lower Manoa in May and five in June.
"There are no streets with more than one burglary during that time frame," said HPD Capt. Frank Fujii.
The good news was that a "couple of career criminals" were arrested recently, one of whom "was particularly active in Manoa," he said. The hope is that with that arrest, the number of burglaries will decrease.
But compared with other neighborhoods, burglaries are not rife in Manoa, Fujii said. Crime statistics, by neighborhood, can be found on HPD's Web site, honolulupd.org. Click on "statistics" in the left column. Manoa is in District 7 (East Honolulu).
The statistics are dated -- currently, for 2004. However, you can compare how Manoa stacked up to other neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, police regularly give a brief rundown of all crime statistics for the preceding three months in a handout at every monthly Manoa Neighborhood Board meeting, said Chairman Paul Holtrop.
At that time they also will orally present crime stats from the prior month, he said. After that they are open to questions from board members and the public.
Representatives of the Honolulu Fire Department also attend meetings and provide statistics, Holtrop said.
In his opinion -- "by no means a scientific study" -- crime in Manoa is not bad, although there periodically are times when certain areas are targeted by burglars, he said.
Holtrop said you are welcome to attend a meeting and pose your concerns directly to HPD. Manoa Neighborhood Board meetings are held at 7 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month, in Noelani School's cafeteria.
Q: Can anything be done about someone in Salt Lake who takes two parking spaces and occupies them 24/7 by switching cars? They're basically reserving a parking spot on a public street. They'll use one vehicle to park in the middle of two spaces on Ala Napuaa Place. When they come home, they just move it to park the second one.
A: "That is very unneighborly," observed HPD spokesman Capt. Frank Fujii. But, if the spaces are not marked, as in this case, police cannot do anything, he said.
If the spaces are marked, police could cite the parking hog for taking two spaces.
Also, if the vehicles are being moved at least once every 24 hours, police cannot cite the owner for not moving them, Fujii said.
One option is to bring this issue up with your neighborhood board, to see if it would back a move to have the city mark the spaces.
Got a question or complaint? Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered. E-mail to
kokualine@starbulletin.com.
See also: Useful phone numbers