Westside Crime Prevention In Focus Tonight In Town Hall
May 28, 2024 Updated May 28, 2024
After a 17-year-old girl was stabbed in Kapolei and an Ewa Beach man hospitalized after being beaten during an illegal fireworks incident, a town hall is scheduled Tuesday night to focus on crime prevention issues on Oahu’s west side.
EWA BEACH, Hawaii (Island News) – After a 17-year-old girl was stabbed in Kapolei and an Ewa Beach man hospitalized after being beaten during an illegal fireworks incident, a town hall is scheduled Tuesday night to focus on crime prevention issues on Oahu’s west side.
Councilmember Andria Tupola will be hosting the Tuesday evening event at Honouliuli Elementary School. Among those scheduled to attend are Sen. Mike Gabbard, Rep. Diamond Garcia, and panelists from Honolulu Police Department, the Attorney General's Office, the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“Since I've been in office, we've done it every year at least once,” said Tupola, Councilmember for District 1. “But due to the high amounts of shootings and murders, we had..to do one in the summer time as well as one on December 5 -- which we really needed because it was almost at a climax where the community was just fed up. There was just too many stabbings and murders in public spaces on the west side so people were really asking for more.”
Tupola suggested that some of their problems could be addressed by using some of the underutilized facilities already in place.
“We have a brand new police station built in 2017 but it had never been furnished,” Tupola noted. “So they had one police officer stationed there shift per day. So that specific town hall Chief [Joe] Logan was there and the prosecutors and we were just addressing like, how do we have this brand new station in our community that nobody uses.”
Since that point, Tupola says she has procured about $300,000 for that project.
“They are renovating the second floor. They've put in the air conditioning units. And something even more important is that the incentives for police officers has been released,” noting the $25,000 bonuses that has changed over the last two years.
Residents are invited to RSVP and submit questions to the panelists at bit.ly/crimetownhall2024.
A timeline of the town hall goes as follows:
Timeline of Events
6 p.m. - Start & Introductions
Councilmember Tupola, Council District I
Sen. Gabbard, Senate District 21
Rep. Garcia, State House District 42
6:05 p.m. - Crime & Prevention Update / D8
Honolulu Police Department
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
6:25 p.m. - Crime Review & Prevention
Attorney General’s Office
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
7:05 p.m. - Q&A (50 min)
7:55 p.m. - Closing
8 p.m. - Pau
Date: Tuesday, May 28,
Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Location: Honouliuli Elementary School, 91-559 Maunakapu St, Ewa Beach