04-15-20 Police contacts result in enforcement of Stay at Home order – Week 3 (Update)

News Release from Hawaii County Police Department, April 15, 2020

(Update #3)

Governor David Ige’s Third Supplementary Emergency Proclamation, dated (March 23, 2020), Section 1, orders that:

All Persons in the State Must Stay at Home or in Their Place of Residence Pursuant to sections 127A-12(a)(5), 127A-12(a)(14), 127A-13(a)(1), and 127A-13(a)(7), HRS, all persons within the State of Hawaiʻi are ordered to stay at home or in their place of residence except as necessary to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors, as identified at https://www.cisa.gov/identifying-critical-infrastructure-during-covid-19 and as further designated below or by the Director of the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA).

With respect to persons residing in hotels, condominiums, townhomes, apartments, or other multi-unit dwellings, “place of residence” means the person’s individual hotel room or unit. To the extent, persons use shared or outdoor spaces when outside their residence, they must comply with the social distancing requirements set forth herein to the fullest extent possible. All persons may leave their home or place of residence only for essential activities or to engage in the essential businesses and operations identified herein. This order shall take effect on (March 25, 2020) at 12:01 a.m. and remain in place until 11:59 p.m. on (April 30, 2020).

Sub-section F of the Supplementary Proclamation specifies the penalty associated with violations as follows:

Criminal Penalties – Any person who intentionally or knowingly violates any provision set forth in this Section I shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, the person shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Hawai‘i Police Department has continued enforcement of this order when appropriate, primarily in cases of non-compliance after verbal warnings or when in conjunction with unrelated calls for service. 

During the third week spanning (April 8-14, 2020), specific to the offense of “Prohibited Acts” (Emergency Management), Hawaiʻi Police Department officers arrested 17 persons, and cited 77 persons, (total of 94 violations), broken down by district as follows:

South Hilo District:  11 persons arrested, 7 persons cited
South Kohala District:  3 persons arrested, 8 persons cited
Kona District:  1 person arrested, 22 persons cited
Kaʻū District:  1 person arrested, 22 persons cited
Puna District:  1 person arrested
North Kohala District:  13 persons cited
Hāmākua:  5 persons cited

During this past week:  Other unrelated criminal offenses, which prompted the police response and subsequent arrest of the suspects, involved Burglary, Assault, Trespassing, Contempt Warrant, Disorderly Conduct, Terroristic Threatening, Resisting order to stop Motor Vehicle, and Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of Intoxicants/DUI.  Some of the behavior exhibited by violators to whom citations were issued consisted of disregarding repeated warning by police, creating a disturbance, traffic/motor vehicle offenses, congregating/loitering on/alongside the road or at a park/beach area.

The Hawaiʻi Police Department three week combined total enforcement stands at 162 individual offenses (40 arrests, 115 citations issued, and 7 additional cases).

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SA: 162 cited, arrested for violating Big Island ‘stay-at-home’ order