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KAPOLEI POLICE STATION
Secure, yet
‘community friendly’
The showy new facility
boasts state-of-the-art
equipment and designThe Kapolei Police Station
By Jaymes K. Song
Star-BulletinDriving down Kamokila Boulevard into the heart of Kapolei's business district, one could easily miss the new police station.
Surrounded by dozens of coconut, plumeria and palm trees, the facade of the new Kapolei Regional Police Station looks more like the clubhouse of a golf course.
"It's open and friendly looking," said Robert Fujiwara of Makaha as he visited the station for the first time on Monday to file a report about his lost bag.
The Honolulu Police Department will officially unveil and dedicate its $13.5 million station Saturday. The 50,589-square-foot building is the island's second-largest station, next to the downtown headquarters.It has replaced the cramped Waianae Police Station, which will remain open, to become the new command center of patrol District 8, which stretches from Kaena Point to the Ewa plain.
Patrol officers began using the station on June 16, but most of the building is still unoccupied. There is space for the Juvenile Services Division, Criminal Investigation Division, Narcotics/Vice Division and 43 jail cells.
Fujiwara said he prefers the new station over the Waianae Station because of the ample parking and inviting appearance.
The Kapolei Police Station opened on June 16, but the public dedication will be held Saturday. GRAND OPENING
When 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"The Waianae station looks like a fort," he said.
Tom Young, lead architect of the project, said the city wanted the station to have a "community-friendly" appearance. Young of Architects Hawaii Ltd. said it was challenging to design a highly secure building and also make it attractive.
"Certainly we didn't want something to look like a fortress," he said.
The state-of-the-art station has electronic and modern equipment, Young said, including a fiber-optic system that allows the station to "instantaneously" exchange information, files and mug shots with police headquarters. It is also capable of teleconferencing.Another feature is that officers can plug their laptop "mobile data computers" from their cars, directly into their personal work stations at their desks, said Maj. Gordon Young, district commander. The hope is to eventually have a "paperless" system.
The building also features the latest in security, but police and architects wouldn't describe the system. Outside the station, about 50 yards away, is a large two-car garage equipped with car-lifts, to inspect stolen cars. It is the first of its kind on Oahu.
Mayor Jeremy Harris said the Leeward patrol district is a top priority. "It's the fastest-growing area on the island and we need to provide police services for the growing community, and also for the future," he said.Harris said a key benefit of the station is the cellblock, which takes up the largest segment of the building. Now, officers on the Leeward side spend hours driving suspects into town to be processed and detained at the downtown headquarters, which is "very inefficient," the mayor said.
By the end of the year, all suspects arrested from Pearl City, Wahiawa, Mililani, the North Shore and Leeward Oahu, who cannot get out on bail or are required to stay overnight, will be processed and held at Kapolei, instead of downtown.
"It means police officers will able to spend more time in District 8," Harris said, as well as alleviate crowding at headquarters' cells.According to building specifications, the station is equipped with 35 cells for men, four for women and three for juveniles, and one padded cell. The cellblock can hold a maximum of 90 suspects.
About 70 officers will be assigned to the cellblock at the Kapolei Station.
But the number of patrol officers will remain the same, said Maj.Young. Residents will see the "same officers in the same areas."
Construction began on the Kapolei Station in May 1998 and it was originally slated to be open by October. Because of several changes, the opening was delayed until last month, said city Managing Director Ben Lee. About $600,000 worth of changes were made to the building. But the project was still within the $13.5 million budget.About $15,000 was spent by the city to dig up and repave the handicapped parking stalls at the station. The slope was too steep and didn't meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
But most of the modifications dealt with upgraded security measures ordered by Police Chief Lee Donohue, said Clifford Lau, of the city Department of Design and Construction. His "philosophy" for the station was different from that of the previous administration.
Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board, believes the new station is another step for Kapolei in becoming a city.
"The best thing it brings is a better quality of life," she said. "It makes people want to live there."
Jalyn Kaloi of Honokai Hale said she was comforted by having a police station nearby.
"Now, we know they're nearby," she said. "They have to be -- this is their home."
The Kapolei Police Station Construction on the new Kapolei Regional Police Station at 1100 Kamokila Blvd. began in May 1998. It cost city taxpayers $13.5 million for the three-level, 50,589-square-foot building, which sits on 5.1 acres donated by the Campbell Estate.
The station serves about 90,000 residents from the Ewa Plain to Kaena Point. It will have 210 police officers -- 143 assigned to patrol, 67 for the jail cells, which will open at year's end.
The facility was designed by Architects Hawaii Ltd., and built by Okada Trucking.
The station's phone number: 692-4253.
