More cops to sneak up
on traffic violators

Honolulu police will
double the number of
unmarked patrol cars

By Rod Antone
Star-Bulletin

Honolulu Police say they will likely double the number of police officers patrolling Oahu highways in unmarked cars. Right now the department has two weekday stealth patrols observing traffic on the H-1, H-2 and H-3 freeways.

Another two patrols will be added in the next two months to cover nights and weekends.

Capt. Brian Wauke of the traffic division said though it is hard to measure the success of the program, he feels it has been effective as far as getting drivers to think twice before doing things like speeding or giving in to road rage.

"I hear people talking about it when I'm off duty. They say 'The police aren't in police cars anymore.' " said Wauke. "We're looking at changing people's behavior. If we can prevent violations from happening in the first place then it's a success."

When an officer in an unmarked car sees a violation he radios ahead to another officer in a marked vehicle to pull over the violator and the officer in the unmarked car issues the ticket.

Another police program, aimed at ticketing drivers who block intersections, has had mixed success.

Maj. Michael Tucker said the intersection patrols are dependent upon daily staffing and whether officers can be spared to monitor rush-hour traffic.

"We try to be out there every workday" said Tucker. "So far we've issued 512 citations."

"When we first addressed the problem last February we took down license plate numbers and sent out about 600 letters to drivers trying to educate them," he said. Now police hand out $77 citations for anyone blocking intersections.

Police target primarily four intersections: Beretania and Alapai, Piikoi and Lunalilo, Piikoi and Beretania and Ward and King streets.