DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Bryan Griswold, front, and Matt Kraner stayed in their Puowaina Drive home yesterday as Daisey, a pit bull, stared menacingly through the screen door.
Neighbors of victim
live in dread
of more crimeMany residents hope for added
patrols after Thursday's shooting
A Punchbowl woman stayed at a friend's house Thursday night, too scared to sleep in her home across the street from the Puowaina Drive house where a man was shot after he interrupted a burglary.
"I didn't even get any sleep last night," Pamela, who did not want her last name used, said yesterday. "I came to Hawaii to escape this kind of crime."
Pamela and other residents agree that crime in their neighborhood has gotten out of hand and hope police will increase their vigilance after Thursday's shooting.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this for them (police) to open their eyes to what's happening up here," she said.
Pamela has had her car stolen and has been burglarized in recent years, although her Great Dane patrols the house, she said.
"I don't bother to put in an alarm or lock all the windows because if they want to come in, they will. I just don't keep anything in the car anymore," she said. She also hides her valuables.
Honolulu Police Department statistics show property crime on Oahu has climbed in recent years, and the Punchbowl area is no exception.
Statistics for Beat 160, which includes Puowaina Drive, show that larceny-thefts rose to 231 last year, from 156 in 2001 and 127 in 2000. The category includes car break-ins, shoplifting, pickpocketing and other thefts.
Auto thefts decreased slightly from 2000 to 2001 but then doubled to 105 last year from 55 in 2001, the HPD statistics show. While burglaries doubled to 60 in 2001 from 30 in 2000, they dropped to 48 last year.
Longtime resident Connie Knighton acknowledged that police cannot be everywhere, but she wants them to know how serious the problem is. Knighton said she would not move out of the neighborhood, despite the frequent burglaries.
"Decent people live on the drive," she said. "It's just some kids think what I have is theirs to take."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Puowaina Drive resident Pamela (who did not want her surname used) said her car has been stolen and burglarized in recent years. She was home yesterday with her Great Dane, Cleopatra.
She said she is putting up a new chain-link fence around her property and encourages her 5-month-old Jack Russell terrier, Coco, to bark.
Bryan Griswold agrees dogs are helpful in deterring burglars. He is staying at his brother's Puowaina house for the summer and feels safer with pit bull dogs Daisey and Duke around.
The house has not been burglarized, but his brother also has an alarm and steering wheel lock on his car, he said.
Paulette Haliniak's pit bulls kept crime away, she said. "They are the best thing to scare burglars." She got the dogs and installed a home alarm system after she was burglarized several years ago.
Before that, a pickup truck backed into her driveway and stole cases of juice and soda from the garage refrigerator, she said.
In response, she installed garage doors and added a chain-link fence, which she locks at night.
"It's a horrible feeling to know someone's been in your house," she said.
Her new sense of security has come with a price. "My house feels like a prison, and I make sure someone is always home," she said.
Honolulu police emphasized that what happened on Thursday was unusual and that burglars rarely confront homeowners with a weapon.
However, Lt. Tom Grossi advised that anyone who returns home to find something amiss should back off immediately. "Don't go in and rush to see what was taken. Back out. Safety first," said Grossi, "because it is only property. You don't want to put life and limb in jeopardy just for property.
"If you have a cell phone, call 911, run to your neighbor's house and we'll come. Let us go into the house."
Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Antone contributed to this report.
