Aloha Puako Residents,
The following is correspondence from our Community Police Liaison, Officer, Kelena Hookano, addressing questions from Puako residents regarding the speeding in our neighborhood. Officer Hookano initially responded to a report from a Puako resident. Thus, the following postings reflect the continued communication between Officer Hookano, and our Puako residents.
BOTTOM LINE, TAKE-HOME MESSAGE: if you don’t care to read thru the correspondence below, Officer Hookano is directing us to BOTH call in the speeders’ info to CENTRAL DISPATCH 808-935-3311, as well as email, fax or drop off a written report to TRAFFIC SERVICES. This way the infraction is documented and the registered owner of the speeding vehicle gets a letter notifying him or her of the infraction.
THIS IS THE COMMUNITY’S CHANCE TO HELP REDUCE REPETITIVE TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS BY IRRESPONSIBLE AND DANGEROUS DRIVERS!!!
TRAFFIC SERVICES:
Call in the report: 808-961-2226
Fax in report: 808-961-2228
Email report: hcpd4494@co.hawaii.hi.us
REQUIRED INFO. FOR REPORT:
Date & time of event
Vehicle license #
Location & description of violation
(also obviously helpful if you can give vehicle make/color & driver description/gender, etc.)
On Sep 29, 2016, at 1:52 PM, Puako resident wrote:
Officer, many thanks for your enthusiastic response. Wondering if we can arrange something with the police department to either show up when we consistently have a speeding problem that needs to be addressed, which is typically weekends and during periods of surf. We are all aware that once one police car is spotted by these characters the word gets out. Can’t we attack this a better way?Can’t we work with the police to have unmarked cars set up doing surf and/or weekends; ticket a few people and then leave because the word will be out by then anyhow, and just do that sort of gorilla action now and then. We don’t want to see you guys waste your time and resources by coming down at times when there’s no speeding, and again,that’s why it would be ideal to be able to make a phone call when the speeding is prevalent and have a quick response from the police. And as long as these people continue to get away with speeding on a regular basis it’s going to continue. It’s going to take some of these people getting ticketed and spreading the word that the neighborhood is tired of their recklessness and lack of respect for our neighborhood.
Surely you guys are aware of the illegal activities that take place at Paniau on a regular basis. Why can’t there be a police effort to curtail that activity?
With the utmost respect for the police department, knowing how thinly you guys are spread, it just seems that if we can’t work together this will never end.
On Oct 4, 2016, at 9:21 AM, Hookano, Kelena <Kelena.Hookano@hawaiicounty.gov> wrote:
Aloha it’s officer Ho’okano. I just returned to work today. I expressed the puako community concerns about speeding with our patrol units that work the puako beat on the weekends.. and they will be making a conscious effort to deter the speeding on the weekends.. Our department does have a “traffic enforcement division” that does use unmarked cars, but they patrol the highways island wide, and they are made up of about 5 to 6 officers.. I will contact the traffic enforcement division though, and ask if maybe they can use their unmarked cars to enforce speeding in puako on the weekends or whenever they are available.. I am also in puako on almost a daily basis as well, I patrol all the beach access including paniau beach & the boat ramp.. I’ve been able to meet a lot of the regulars & homeless in the area, and have been doing my best to keep the area clear of drugs and negative activity… one of my main focuses recently has been a rash of vehicle break-ins at mauumae beach.. the beach between Mauna Kea resort & Spencer beach.. and I don’t want that activity to move south towards puako… and although I work Monday through Friday, I will try and research the surf calendar and enforce as much as I can during the week.. I really do care about our community.. and in the 8 months that I have been assigned in south kohala, I’ve been trying my best to improve all of its communities, from kawaihae and the low income housing units there, to Waikoloa and everywhere Inbetween… I will continue to work with you and the rest of the community to try and make this place the best and safest place to live… I’ll be down in puako today conducting foot patrol, and later running some speeding enforcement.. I look forward to communicating with you again..
On Oct 8, 2016, at 2:08 PM, Puako resident wrote:
Officer H, again the community thanks you for your efforts and integrity. We are wondering, sir, not many of us carry the speeders’ form with us when we’re out walking, biking or whatever. So most of us in the community just prefer to call it in when it’s happening to dispatch in Hilo, in hopes that there might be a patrol car in our area that could actually go after the speeder then and there. So our question is this, does anything ever happen when we call in a speeder, giving a license number, vehicle description, etc. Will that phone report have the same effect that a written report would? Just hoping to get the most bang for the buck here and hoping that it’s not a waste of time to call in the speeders.
From: “Hookano, Kelena” <Kelena.Hookano@hawaiicounty.gov>
Date: October 10, 2016 at 7:27:20 AM HST
Subject: Re: Speeders
good morning.. yes the “COMMUNITY ROAD SAFETY WATCH” form is a little more proactive in the sense that when the form is submitted, it goes straight to our traffic services division, and the registered owner of the vehicle gets a letter notifying them of the violation… compared to when the call is received by central dispatch, if the patrol units are unable to locate the vehicle, then the call stops there… so in actuality the best and most effective option would be to do both.. that way there’s a chance the vehicle can be located the day of the infraction, and if we are unable to locate the vehicle, then traffic services can follow up on their end.. the form is also a great way to document whether or not a Vehicle starts to become an “on-going” issue.. where at that point traffic services along with patrol & community police units can try and pin point the problem speeders..
hope that helps.. I’ll be down in puako today, and I’ll have some forms with me. I’m planing on dropping some off with peter, and I can drop some of with you as well… I have a project at mauumae beach & Spencer park later in the afternoon, so I’ll be in the area. hope you have a blessed day
ALOHA
from officer hookano oct 11,2016
Aloha , it is best to call it in to central dispatch. then later submit the form (electronically through email or through the mail) to traffic services…
also, I was able to make contact with that vehicle you reported yesterday afternoon at paniau.. I counseled the driver & the passengers in the vehicle. Go ahead and submit the traffic services form as well, so that they can follow up too… the more police contact (via counsel, warning, citation) the more likely the person will stop speeding.
-Puako Resident
puako.org 