Repeated incidents of gun violence on the Waianae Coast should raise both concern and determination among all Oahu residents, who must join the West Side to demand increased law enforcement and
social support for the wounded communities.
The latest outrage: three separate shootings over nine days, leaving two men dead and at least five people injured. In the last incident, Thursday, two teens were seriously wounded, and the shooter or shooters are still at large.
This time, the response was immediate, and impressive. In a late-night meeting, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, county, state and federal lawmakers, Honolulu Police Department (HPD) Chief Joe Logan and other top officials agreed to combine forces for a “unified effort” to eliminate illegal guns and eradicate the drug trafficking often connected to violence.
On Friday, Gov. Josh Green and U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda joined Blangiardi, Logan, state Law Enforcement Director Jordan Lowe, state legislators and City Council member Andria Tupola to announce that commitment. They vowed to “flood” the Waianae community with significant additional law enforcement presence, and to develop legislation and other strategies to quell the violence.
The response, while overdue, is necessary — and Blangiardi, having shown results by joining forces with the state on Oahu’s homelessness crisis, is making another strategically welcome move here.
Waianae needs relief. This effort can work if public officials apply sustained commitment and follow through with actions that address not only law enforcement and criminal penalties — necessary elements, without a doubt — but also the economic, social and community factors that lead to the destructive lawlessness and fatal disregard for human life now plaguing the West Side.
Currently in Waianae, four to five police officers are typically assigned to patrol the area, and this clearly has not been enough. HPD will deploy reserve officers, crime reduction units, on-duty officers who volunteer for the effort and officers on overtime to create a presence, Logan said. Tupola, who has consistently called for greater HPD presence, rightly pledged to continue pressing for increased hiring.
Echoing the emphasis on crime control, Green said the state will “bring significantly more law enforcement support to Waianae,” with officers from the state departments of Law Enforcement and of Land and Natural Resources deployed to patrol the Waianae Small Boat Harbor and other state lands on the Leeward Coast. This effort is essential. Tokuda called for federal legislation aimed at homemade “ghost guns” and the availability of online instructions for building them — also welcome would-be actions that cannot be delayed.
As for community involvement: This effort cannot succeed without it. Tupola and state representatives are hosting a “youth-focused” crime prevention town hall at 6 p.m. today at Waianae High School, open to all, with dinner served at 5 p.m. It’s a particularly savvy move to invite members of Waianae sports teams to attend, and area
residents must join in on the grassroots effort.
Finally, the Department of Law Enforcement is sponsoring a “gun buyback” program at Aloha Stadium on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., offering Foodland gift cards in exchange for any firearm, no questions asked or identification required. This is a valuable piece of the effort.
Get instructions at alohastadium.hawaii.gov/main/gun-buyback-program.
Waianae’s relative isolation in comparison to other communities of its size, along with heightened rates of joblessness, poverty and substance abuse, have made its residents particularly vulnerable to crime and violence. But those problems are certainly not confined to the
West Side. Revving up effective approaches to these problems benefits the island as a whole — both because no barrier prevents violent criminals nurtured in any one part of the island from preying on victims elsewhere, and because workable solutions can be “seeded” in other problem areas as needed.
