Like anyone’s back yard, many communities on Oahu could do with some weeding and seeding — pulling out what’s harming the community, and planting what may help it flourish, over time.

Weed and Seed is the name for this approach being applied to communities struggling with mounting crime and other social ills, in which law enforcement is paired with residents and organizations aimed at putting the neighborhood on a better trajectory (www.weedandseedhi.org).

Chinatown has been part of a larger “Weed and Seed” district that also encompasses Ala Moana, Sheridan, Kalihi and Palama areas. Two other established zones of focus are Waipahu, and the Ewa and Ewa Beach areas.

But Chinatown has merited particular attention in recent weeks from the administration of Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who rightly believes the neighborhood needs a stronger police presence. Funds available through federal COVID-19 relief coffers made this possible, at least for the near term.

The homelessness crisis has been particularly acute in Chinatown, positioned between the Downtown financial district and Palama, and near multiple outreach services set up to assist those living on the streets. It is a well-established business zone in its own right, and its leaders have been working for decades to foster a better environment for art galleries, boutiques, bars and trendy restaurants.

Though it’s too early to give a final grade to this latest initiative, the police-community partnership is showing some promise.

For example, over a six-day period, July 12-17, Honolulu Police Department officers in the area recorded a range of arrests, to be expected. More encouraging, they made 356 contacts with individuals that resulted in 106 referrals for some kind of service, including COVID-19 testing and vaccination appointments.

These are building blocks for repairing the trust between HPD and the communities it serves, a trust that has suffered in recent conflicts over two fatal shootings by police, the Iremamber Sykap and Lindani Myeni cases.

Some of that strain was visible on Tuesday in a demonstration against police use of force, staged outside the courtroom where three officers are on trial in the Sykap killing.

Relations with the Micronesian community that included Sykap’s family could benefit from the opening of a new Micronesian youth center in Liliha, an event last week that was attended by interim HPD Chief Rade K. Vanic.

That’s the right gesture of support, but the test will be in the follow-through.

Further, the burden on police is only going to increase. Witness the slowdown in implementing the Blangiardi administration’s plan for addressing homelessness.

The Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement (CORE) approach was meant to to free up officers by shifting nonviolent homeless-related calls to social-service and health-care workers. Now, the program has been scaled back to only two shifts daily, with backup from police. Hiring, again enabled through COVID relief funds, has yet to begin.

The pace has got to pick up if this effort to coordinate law enforcement and community strengthening is to succeed. CORE was patterned after a program by Denver police who work with counselors to handle social needs, a system that is bearing fruit.

Community policing is a long-term commitment, easy to embrace in theory, harder to realize on the ground. But Honolulu, a city with officers who do reflect the diversity of the general population, has a foundation for successful neighborhood partnerships.

Surely the problems in Chinatown, and islandwide, compel leaders to reach for that high bar, before the troubles take stronger root.