Motorists should be
tagged for obstructionThe issue: Police officers and others
are buying devices to obstruct traffic
cameras' ability to read car license plates.THE installation of traffic cameras to catch speeders and red-light violators at Honolulu intersections has created a frenzy to find ways of beating the new system. Special plastic license-plate covers have emerged as the favorite tools for obstructing justice, while public officials seem stupefied about how to cope with the insurgence.
If the devices are effective -- manufacturers guarantee that they are -- and there is any question about their legality, then legislators should prohibit their use. Meanwhile, city and state officials need to begin cooperating to assure fair and reasonable enforcement of the law using photographic evidence.
Ironically, police officers seem to be leading the stampede for the purchase of such devices. One auto parts retailer told the Star-Bulletin's Rod Antone that several officers have bought 20 to 30 devices each, and he has sold about 1,500 to police, government officials, ambulance drivers, firefighters, city refuse workers and even employees of the state Department of Transportation, which launched the traffic photo enforcement system.
A spokeswoman for Brian Minaai, the transportation director, has said that police and other law-enforcement officials would not be exempt from the project unless a flashing light can be detected in the photo. However, police officers sometimes follow speeding cars at the same pace to determine how fast the speeders are going before turning on their patrol cars' flashing lights.
The level of cooperation between state transportation officials and the Honolulu Police Department was so dismal that police Chief Lee Donohue felt compelled to issue a memorandum ordering officers not to place coverings on the plates of department vehicles, both city-owned and subsidized. The Transportation Department blithely maintains that the devices don't work.
The coverings are designed to obscure images when viewed at an angle, allowing plates to be read only when photographed directly. They clearly are marketed as obstructions to photographic evidence of traffic violations.
Whether in the form of a liquid to be spread upon license plates (Flashbuster is one) or as plastic covers, they are not sold as protectors of license plates. Eliminator, a hard plastic cover, already has been sold in large quantities in Honolulu. One manufacturer, PhotoBuster, which sells liquid coverings and hard covers ranging in price from $20 to $32 on the Internet, promises, "Our products come with a 90-day money-back guarantee if they fail to defeat photo radar or red light cameras!"
Donohue understandably places more faith in the guarantees of PhotoBuster and other manufacturers than in Minaai's doubts about the effectiveness of these tools in obstructing justice.
Minimum wage hike
should be sustainedThe issue: The increase was
approved when Hawaii's economic
outlook was promising.Hawaii businesses will undoubtedly feel another pinch in their profits when the state's minimum wage increases Jan. 1. Despite the downturn in the economy and business owners' pleas for relief, the raises should remain in place.
When the state Legislature approved the increase earlier this year, it appeared that Hawaii's economy was strengthening and that businesses could withstand the boost. This newspaper editorialized that the improving conditions warranted the hike. However, no one could predict the events of Sept. 11 and the ensuing economic slide, illustrating how pegging the minimum wage to swings in the economy can result in endless guessing games.
Suspending the increase would harm the most vulnerable of working people -- those at the lower economic strata.
The increase will be the first in eight years in Hawaii. The initial increment will add 50 cents to the current minimum pay of $5.25. The second, to take effect in January 2003, will boost the minimum to $6.25. These are barely living wages, as witnessed by the burgeoning of homeless people since the economic drop-off forced employers to cut work hours.
About 3 percent of Hawaii's work force earns minimum wage, according to the state Labor Department, not so large a number that the increase will batter the economy. For restaurants and other enterprises where workers receive tips, the increase will be offset somewhat by the rise in the tip credit from 20 cents to 25 cents. The credit allows an employer to decrease minimum pay by that amount so long as tips make up the difference by 50 cents or more.
The Legislature delayed the minimum wage increase until next year to allow businesses to make adjustments. Nevertheless, the ripples of the slump in the tourism industry could not be foreseen and employers may be hard pressed to keep their workers.
Balancing fair wages against slim profits won't be easy for many struggling businesses in the present economic slump. However, these benefits for the neediest of workers should stand. How the economy will shake down is uncertain. All that can be done is to move forward and weather the crisis as best we can.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comRichard Halloran, editorial page director, 529-4790; rhalloran@starbulletin.com
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
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