In 2003, when I was a Honolulu City Councilman representing
West Oahu from Ewa to the Waianae Coast, I authored and introduced
legislation creating a volunteer policing program within the
Honolulu Police Department. The bill was intended to set up
a volunteer force of citizens to patrol neighborhoods keeping
an eye out for abandoned vehicles and parking violations.
I got the idea from speaking to Neighborhood Security
Watch volunteers in my district who were fed up with crime and
drug abuse that was threatening our kamaaina way of life. These
folks were feeling powerless and wanted a way to plug in and
take their communities back. Additionally, I saw the program
as a way of freeing up our police officers so they could go
after the rapists, murderers and other violent criminals.
I researched and found out that there were nearly 30,000 Neighborhood
Security Watch volunteers on the island. We also learned about
an existing program within HPD called the Volunteer Disabled
Parking Enforcement Program, which at that time had 24 volunteers
and was led ably by Sgt. Bart Canada. This program got started
in 1998 and allowed volunteers to assist the HPD by issuing
citations for disabled parking violations and misused handicap
parking decals. When I presented an honorary certificate to
these volunteers on behalf of the City Council in December 2003,
it was estimated that they were issuing roughly 3,300 citations
each year and saving HPD roughly $340,000 in operational costs!
With the support of HPD and members of the community, my bill
passed the City Council unanimously on Dec. 3, 2003 and was
signed into law by the mayor that same month. I also worked
with my colleagues on the City Council to secure $485,000 in
funding to hire four additional police officers to implement
the program.
Well, it took a little while to get things going, but I was
happy to learn recently that with little fanfare HPD launched
the Volunteer Special Enforcement Officers Program (VSEOP) in
March. The program uses the existing Disabled Parking volunteers
and gives them the added ability to issue citations for expired
registrations, safety checks, parking out of stalls and also
allows them to assist with abandoned vehicle enforcement.
Sgt. Emilio Laganse runs the program with three other HPD officers.
In order to qualify, volunteers must be a U.S. citizen, at least
21 years old, have a high school diploma or GED, have a valid
driver's license, pass a background check, and complete 40-50
hours of training. HPD plans to have its first training class
in September.
At the Waipahu Neighborhood Board meeting in July, Sgt. Laganse
gave a short presentation about VSEOP. George Yakowenko, the
board's vice chairman, also spoke about his experiences as a
volunteer in the Disabled Parking program and said VSEOP will
allow them to do even more to help HPD control the parking and
abandoned vehicle problems in our neighborhoods.
You might be surprised to learn that about 2,000 police and
sheriff's departments across the country currently have about
75,000 men and women serving in volunteer policing programs.
There's also an organization called the National Association
Citizens on Patrol (http://www.nacop.org) which is dedicated
to strengthening these programs.
If you're interested in being a part of this new and exciting
program, please contact Sgt. Laganse at 529-3136.
I want to thank Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Police Chief Boisse
Correa for having the vision and leadership to move this important
initiative forward. I'm hopeful that the police department and
the citizens of Oahu will make VSEOP an outstanding success.
________________________________________
Mike Gabbard represents District 19 (Kalaeloa-Makakilo) in the
state Senate.
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