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Police siren use
depends on situation

Question: Is there any procedure for reporting unusual activity of a police car? On Thursday, May 26, about 5:20 p.m., I was in the far right lane on Punahou Street, heading mauka, just about to turn right on Dole Street. This is in front of Arcadia, where there are three lanes: a left-turn-only lane and two lanes heading mauka. A police car that had been in the left-turn-only lane abruptly cut across one lane and into my lane, in front of me, to turn right onto Dole Street. There was no siren, and the driver used no turn signals or flashing lights. As he proceeded down Dole, he did not turn on any siren nor flash any lights, and did not appear to increase his speed. Is this legal activity?

Answer: The license number and other details you provided helped track down the officer, as well as to determine what was happening at that time to account for his actions.

The officer was responding to a motor vehicle collision, said Capt. Frank Fujii, spokesman for the Honolulu Police Department.

"This officer was not familiar with the area -- he was filling in the beat for the regular police officer," he said. "He thought he had cleared the traffic" when he made his sudden moves.

"Technically," officers are supposed to activate lights and sirens for an emergency, Fujii said.

Although police would want to get to a call about a motor vehicle accident as quickly as possible, "it's really the officer's discretion whether (a call) is an emergency or not," he said.

Fujii also was reluctant to say the officer broke any rules because using sirens/lights often depends on the circumstances. But the important thing is that you brought it to HPD's attention and "we were able to address it," he said. "The officer was spoken to about the matter."

If you or anyone else sees something questionable involving an officer, Fujii said to write to HPD with as many details as possible or just call him at 529-3550.

Q: There is a broken sprinkler on the median strip of Ka Uka Boulevard in Waipio Gentry, near the Tesoro gas station, that is wasting a lot of water. Instead of spraying the grass, the broken sprinkler is shooting water upward, drenching the road. Can you check on this?

A: The sprinkler should be fixed by now. It took a while for us to track down the entity responsible for maintaining that median strip.

We were told first it was the city Department of Parks and Recreation, then the Department of Facility Maintenance. But it turns out that maintenance of such public areas, in certain neighborhoods, is partly overseen by a community or business association on behalf of the city.

In this case, it is not the Gentry Waipio Community Association, nor Gentry Properties, but Gentry Waipio Industrial Area Association.

The problem was fixed as soon as it was brought to its attention. If you see a similar problem occurring, call the association at 531-7888, via Coldwell Banker Commercial Pacific Properties.

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