This year is the Gannenmono, the 150th anniversary of the first group of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. It was recognized by celebrations, a visit by the Prince and Princess of Japan and a number of NHK documentaries.
At the same time, unfortunately, the Japanese consulate warned visitors from Japan to exercise caution because of crime.
The warning was issued after a brutal attack upon a Japanese couple at a public restroom in Kakaako. Sadly, the attack was not an isolated event. Robberies in Honolulu are up 20 percent compared to 2013, according to the Honolulu Police Department’s 2017 annual report. Between 2016 and 2017 the numbers of murders doubled. The victims include visitors, military personnel and locals. These attacks threaten not only the health of Hawaii’s $16 billion visitor industry but the safety of residents.
How dangerous has Hawaii become? One of my Kailua neighbors pointed to a man having a mental episode in the middle of the street and said, “I have lived here all my life and never felt less safe.”
Visitors are being frightened, robbed and hurt on a regular basis, even in Kailua. There are said to be more than 37,000 people in Hawaii diagnosed as schizophrenic or with biopolar disorder (most of whom are not dangerous).
In addition, there are thousands of drug users whose mental states are influenced when they take drugs or alcohol.
Unfortunately, law and order issues no longer seem to hold the interest of most political leaders. The issue of public safety rarely comes up in debates or discussions. It is as if the almost daily assaults, shootings and attacks we see, hear and read about never happened. According to official press releases from the state attorney general’s office, the level of crime is at a historic low.
There are many reasons behind the outbreak of violence: the increase in the sale of illicit drugs, overcrowded housing that puts a huge strain on families, the lack of sufficient numbers of police officers, the need at the state and county level to address data issues related to under- reported crimes and a lack of the kind of community policing programs that have become common on the mainland. But most of all, the problem is that Hawaii does not have a good program for dealing with the overwhelming mental health and drug rehabilitation issues it now faces.
One place to begin might be for the people of Hawaii to ask their local leaders to begin a pilot program with Koban — the Japanese police box system. The Koban system is essentially a one-room police office in selected neighborhoods.
The police officers assigned to Kobans develop intimate knowledge of everyone in their area and see their roles as crime fighters and protectors of the vulnerable. The first one in Hawaii should be placed in Kakaako immediately adjoining the public restroom where the attack took place. Ideally it would be paired with a drug rehabilitation specialist.
If we really want to celebrate the arrival of the first Japanese to Hawaii, we should make sure that today’s visitors from Japan and the communities they visit are safe.
