Police to place up to 16 cameras in 3 areas to fend off criminals
Steve Hillsman, president of Q-Star Technology, showed off a camera yesterday that could be used to place photographic equipment in Waipahu, Ewa Beach and the downtown-Kalihi-Palama areas to deter criminal activity.
Honolulu police and community leaders are hoping well-placed cameras will discourage criminals in Waipahu, Ewa Beach and downtown-Kalihi-Palama.
The photographic cameras, which likely will be triggered by motion detectors, are being made possible through a grant from retail chain Target.
The police department still needs to buy the equipment through the city procurement process, but the grant is expected to pay for about 16 cameras costing about $6,000 each.
The department hopes to have the first of the cameras of Project PUEO (Policing Using Electronic Observation) operating by the end of summer.
The city Department of Environmental Services already has been using the technology to deter illegal dumping in three Oahu neighborhoods.
FlashCAM-880, a solar-powered device being used by environmental services officials, takes up to four photos with a 12-megapixel camera with a flash when triggered, said Steve Hillsman, president of Q-Star Technology. It emits a warning to scare off would-be criminals.
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The three neighborhoods getting the cameras are federally designated Weed and Seed zones. Community leaders have a hand in determining where the cameras will go, police officials said. Officers will check the cameras daily.
HPD and Target held anews conference yesterday at the Pupuole Street Mini Park in Waipahu, long a haven for drug activity.
Hercules Huihui, who lives at a walk-up apartment building nearby, said the park has been cleaned up since he moved into the neighborhood 17 years ago.
But Huihui, a member of the Waipahu Weed & Seed steering committee, said young people still smoke marijuana in the park or hold "batu parties" to smoke crystal methamphetamine in an abandoned building next to it.
The cameras may deter illegal activity in the area, as well as dumping, he said.
Dottie Pregil, executive director of the nonprofit Restore Our Community, said she hopes cameras will help discourage drug activity at Kalihi Uka Park.
"We have such a bad reputation, we’ve had SWAT teams there, people arrested for drug-dealing, we’ve had murder there," Pregil said. "And we want to restore that place because Kalihi Uka Elementary School is right next door."
