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Catch-and-release policies create revolving door of crime as pending cases pile up
KHON: … John Fielding is a longtime Catholic church and Boy Scouts volunteer in the heart of downtown Honolulu, where catering to those in need is a core mission. But Fielding says a COVID crime, drug and vandalism wave downtown has pushed even the most compassionate to the breaking point.
“They’re getting arrested for drug dealing or even assault, and I see them back on the streets within an hour or two,” says Fielding, who is also an executive with a major downtown staffing firm, “because they cannot be held.”
They cannot be held, police told him, because the Honolulu Office of the Prosecuting Attorney told police let them go.
“According to a number of the police officers that I talked to,” Fielding said, “their hands are tied with the prosecuting attorney’s office that nothing’s happening.”
Police can only hold people for a maximum of 48 hours, or they’ve got to release pending investigation, called RPI. Sources showed me a Prosector’s Office memo from last year that limited charging while in police custody to suspects considered dangerous, a career criminal or pre-trial felon, or someone on a crime spree. Assaults on law enforcement officers will get a custody charge, as will burglaries involving dwellings, elders, romantic partners or sex assaults. Anything else will be release pending investigation.
HPD acknowledged in a statement that, “Last summer the acting prosecutor narrowed the categories of suspects who should be detained.”
Always Investigating asked Steve Alm, who took over as prosecutor in January, what’s going on?
“It wasn’t my administration to put out any change in procedures,” Alm explained. “This was done last year, in response to COVID and trying to decide which cases are really high public safety matters.”
Alm says there was domino effect after last year’s Supreme Court order to release certain defendants from incarceration and reduce the population behind bars due to COVID risk.
“What I’m hoping is as people get vaccinated, we’ll be able to convince the court to hold more people in custody at OCCC, pending their trials,” Alm said. “The memo only refers to which cases are going to be people are going to be held in custody. So we are continuing to charge all of these cases where we think the person has committed a felony.”
HPD told Always Investigating in a statement: “Our detectives work hard to present cases that will result in charges.”
Meanwhile victims worry about suspects who didn’t used to get released quite as quickly. Besides more assault and domestic-violence quick-releases, victims have seen a slew of vandalism and burglary encores. Second degree burglary — that’s anything not involving a home — has mostly been RPI’d, so that’s any business, church or nonprofit. Longtime downtown and Chinatown area business owners say they have never seen the area so bad.
“Downtown is like the wild wild west right now,” Fielding said. “When I talk to these criminals, they tell me, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re okay. We’ll be out in a few hours.’ They know that. They know that they can’t be held. I had another person who told me, ‘I’ll see you in a few hours,’ and I was like, oh my gosh, you know, what am I supposed to do?”
He’s far from alone. A victim’s poll on Stolen Stuff Hawaii’s Facebook page yielded hundreds more with the same concern: victims whose suspects were RPI’d. The pending investigation and prosecution? Still in the pending pile.
“What they’re seeing is that the criminals that are involved in their cases are not being charged,” said Stolen Stuff Hawaii moderator Michael Kitchens. “They’re not being held accountable. We’re seeing multiple people being victimized by the same people over and over again.”….
read … Catch-and-release policies create revolving door of crime as pending cases pile up
East Hawaii Cultural Center to put up fence to combat drug-addicted homeless criminals
HTH: … The East Hawaii Cultural Center plans to fence its property after items were stolen from the nonprofit during a Feb. 14 burglary.
In a post on its Facebook page, the center announced that within a two-week period a cover protecting a kiln was stolen, as well as materials and art supplies meant for keiki activities.
While security has been an issue at the cultural center in the past, the latest events convinced staff to plan and design a fence to protect the center and its annex.
“This decision came after a culmination of issues we have had the past few weeks,” said Vice Chair Carol Walker. “Recently, we even had an associate pushed to the ground by someone seemingly breaking into a car, which shattered their arm and caused them to need orthopedic surgery.”
Employees at EHCC, which is located in downtown Hilo, also have had to deal with intruders on the property, and each day the staff cleans up around the site, which sometimes is littered with excrement and needles….
read … East Hawaii Cultural Center to put up fence to combat crime
The Fever Breaks: Maui County won’t tighten COVID-19 restrictions for now
MN: … “We’re not going to make major changes to the restrictions,” Mayor Michael Victorino said Monday afternoon during the county’s news conference. “We know what we need to do, our visitors know what they need to do, our businesses are doing a great job — I go to many of these businesses — I don’t think we need to up the ante at this point….
“We’re going to give them time to do what is right.”…
While Oahu is averaging 24 daily cases and a test positivity rate of 1 percent over a seven-day rolling period, Maui County has climbed to a 4 percent positivity rate and an average of 19 new cases a day, with Central and West Maui continuing to have higher case counts in the last two weeks, according to DOH data….
Epidemiological Specialist Spencer Headley of the Maui District Health Office noted that the community needs to continue implementing the usual safety measures and push past “COVID fatigue.”
“We get it, we’re there, and we understand that 100 percent in terms of needing to live your life,” Headley said. “The only thing I really want to stress today is that we’re on the edge of having the majority of our vulnerable populations vaccinated and we just have to keep it up for another couple months and being really diligent about masking, about staying home when you’re sick and letting your close contacts know if you test positive.”
Only 10.9 percent of the county’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the lowest rate in the state, according to DOH data as of Monday. Kauai County continued to lead the state with 19.4 percent of its population receiving at least one dose, followed by Honolulu County at 15.4 percent and Hawaii County at 13.9 percent.
A cumulative 356,863 doses have been administered statewide as of Monday.
DOH is expecting a delivery of 67,280 more doses of the vaccine this week…
read … Maui County won’t tighten COVID-19 restrictions for now
Love’s Bakery, which struggled with pandemic losses, to cease operations at end of March
HNN: … Love’s Bakery, an institution in the islands since 1851, will cease operations at the end of March after grappling with growing pandemic-related losses.
More than 230 employees at the bakery will be laid off.
In a notice to state and federal agencies about the mass layoff, the company said it is seriously delinquent in rent, unable to qualify for federal Paycheck Protection Program monies and has seen major delays from mainland suppliers for ingredients and parts for aging equipment.
The company also said it was not able to secure additional capital.
“We have worked diligently to cut expenses, to maintain our market share and to remedy our operational difficulties, however under the current business environment we are no longer able to continue operations,” Love’s Bakery said, in a statement ….
read … Love’s Bakery, which struggled with pandemic losses, to cease operations at end of March
Different basic wage for tipped employees
SA: … We should take a lesson from cities such as Chicago, which applies the industry’s minimum wage by pairing the income from tips and from the employer to result in a fair and livable wage level. It’s not fair to have both the non-tipped and tipped personnel on the same basic level.
If it is the government’s position that it wants only the “big box” restaurant corporations to own these businesses, and eliminate the small business owner such as Self and hundreds of others, then it will succeed if it does not make the minimum wage fair and equitable….
read … Different basic wage for tipped employees
HPD sets quota for speed program, requiring officers to make more stops until March 27
HNN: … Honolulu police officers who are participating in a speed enforcement grant program this month will have to pull over at least four drivers every hour.
An HPD traffic sergeant made the requirement for the federal grant clear in a recent internal email.
“For each hour of grant overtime worked, it is projected that each officer will generate FOUR (4) speed-related contacts,” the email said. “Each stop shall be counted as one contact”.
The email also said those who don’t meet the requirements could face disciplinary action…..
The quota is strictly an HPD decision because the grant program doesn’t have any minimum requirements set by the federal government….
The email from the HPD traffic sergeant pointed out that if the department is unable to meet performance goals the department could lose future funding on federal overtime programs.
“That brings a lot of peer pressure,” Bakke said.
In a statement to Hawaii News Now, the traffic division major acknowledged that the four traffic stop minimum is not part of the federal program but points out that citations or warnings count as contacts.
The grant program runs through March 27….
read … HPD sets quota for speed program, requiring officers to make more stops
$80M for Native Hawaiian health care, housing, and education programs in new COVID-19 relief bill
KHON: … The new funding will provide millions to Native Hawaiian health care centers, higher education institutions, and housing assistance programs at the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
New grants are also being worked on to assist native language programs across the country that have suffered during the pandemic.
Hawaiian language programs will have access to a portion of that….
Related: Indian Affairs: OHA Chair calls for 'Parity' among all 'Native Americans'
read … $80M for Native Hawaiian health care, housing, and education programs in new COVID-19 relief bill
Keep the People Doped up: Marijuana-related bills progressing in Legislature
HTH: … Senate Bill 758 would increase from 3 grams to 1 ounce the minimum amount of marijuana that a defendant must possess to be charged with a petty misdemeanor. It would also permit persons previously convicted of possessing 1 ounce or less of marijuana to have the conviction expunged from their criminal record….
Senate Bill 767 seeks to legalize the personal use, possession, and sale of marijuana in a specified quantity. It would also require licensing to operate cannabis establishments and subject sales to excise and income taxes. The measure will be heard Wednesday before a joint Committee on Judiciary and Ways and Means.
Senate Bill 1139, which seeks to increase the patient registration fee by $10 starting in 2022, from the current $35 for in-state patients and $45 for out-of-state patients, is headed to a floor vote. The measure would also fund three full-time positions via the medical cannabis registry and regulation special fund. It passed the Committee on Ways and Means on Friday….
House Bill 477, which would increase the allowable number of production centers and retail dispensing locations per dispensary license and authorize the Department of Health to allow a licensed dispensary to purchase medical cannabis or manufactured cannabis products from another licensed dispensary to ensure ongoing qualified patient access, passed the Finance Committee on Thursday and will go to a full house vote.
Senate Bill 241, which would amend state law to allow for a qualifying in-state or out-of-state patient to transport cannabis between the islands for personal medical use, is headed to a floor vote. A measure to do just that was passed by the 2019 Legislature, however, Ige vetoed the measure, under the rationale that marijuana, including medical cannabis, remains illegal under federal law. The bill passed its last committee hearing Wednesday.
read … Marijuana-related bills progressing in Legislature
720,000 COVID Tests About to Expire: DoH Would Rather Trash them than Use Them
CB: … Hawaii health officials donated part of a large stockpile of rapid COVID-19 tests for the Big Island to screen arriving visitors at its two airports.
But now, the state Department of Health says they can be used only if the Big Island and its testing contractor replace them later, at a cost estimated at about $1 million, because the stockpile is not intended for airport screening. DOH spokeswoman Janice Okubo said Tuesday the health department was not aware of the county’s intentions for the rapid test kits, which are stored and distributed by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
The HI-EMA is still accepting requests for the DOH stockpile of 720,000 rapid COVID-19 tests, which expire this month unless an analysis shows they are still giving accurate results. But the Big Island screening, which has turned up 123 positive cases since October and is credited by county officials for keeping down case numbers, is not among them.
“This is a piece of a bigger puzzle, which is the state’s overall testing strategy,” said Rep. Linda Ichiyama, who represents Moanalua, Salt Lake and Aliamanu on Oahu. “I have yet to see something that is comprehensive that goes to a larger question of what should we be using the kits for? I think the pressing expiration date of these 720,000 kits really pushes that question to the forefront.”
WHT: County to return 50K COVID tests to state
(Actually, the plan was to use these test kits to reopen schools but the HSTA obstructed that.)
(IDEA: Take all the expired test kits and dump them on the front lawn of HSTA HQ.)
read … Hawaii Wants To Give Away COVID-19 Tests, But Not For Big Island Airport Screening
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