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Hawaii Police Commission <br />Regular Session Minutes <br />September 14, 2012 <br />Page 2 <br />• Crime report by area, category, and trends <br />Major Randy Apele reported that they had 1,701 serious crimes. Area I had 319 <br />serious crimes and Area 11 had 165. The Criminal Investigation Units investigated <br />484 of those crimes. They had 8,535 calls for service, 3142 for criminal /traffic and <br />5,393 for miscellaneous public assistance. <br />Burglaries are a concern both on the east and west side of the island. Auto thefts <br />are a concern on the west side. Puna and Hilo have both sustained an increase in <br />burglaries. Hilo has a special enforcement unit focusing on these burglaries. Gold <br />is a target and is being taken to pawn shops and gold dealers. They have built good <br />relationship with the pawn shops and have done a good job of recovering stolen <br />property. The Community Policing Section is working on public awareness. An idea <br />is to put a booth up at Wal -Mart and other areas of high traffic to get the word out to <br />the public on how to protect their gold. A photograph and description is very <br />important. A lot of time they find gold that they believe is stolen or other property, <br />but they cannot tie them up to a victim because there is no good description or serial <br />number. Education and enforcement are two ways of attacking the situation. Gold <br />dealers are melting it or shipping it out. Sometimes it is taken apart so it is not <br />readily identifiable. A lot of the pawn shops are very cooperative, but the gold <br />dealers are more difficult to regulate, and there are many of them. <br />AC Kealoha stated that in West Hawaii, it is very popular to mail gold out and then <br />get payment. Commissioner Kualii stated that gold buyers also have house parties <br />where they purchase gold and mail it out the next day. Major Apele stated that <br />some gold dealers are meeting people on the streets. Chair Ono stated that he met <br />a man on the plane who tried to convince him to have a gold party, and he would be <br />paid a percentage. <br />Deputy Chief Ferreira said he believes the Honolulu Police Department is putting <br />together a legislative package to regulate gold. This is a statewide issue. The <br />current opinion is that the law that governs pawn shops also includes gold buyers. <br />Assistant Chief Kealoha stated that in the month of August they saw a 300% <br />increase in property crimes, particular burglaries in North and South Kona. <br />Regarding the Waikoloa burglaries that he reported on last month, two people are in <br />custody, and the Waikoloa burglaries are down to zero. In Kona, it's a slightly larger <br />problem because the group is organized. Up to ten individuals were wanted. As of <br />yesterday, with the help of the community and the West Hawaii today, they made <br />eight arrests, and two are left. The amount of calls they got from the public was <br />amazing. From that, they learned to enlist the public's helps when possible. Right <br />now, they have to get these people to trial and convicted. <br />Assistant Chief Kealoha stated that on Tuesday night they had a large meeting at <br />Konawaena High School. He was surprised by the number of people in attendance. <br />It was obvious to everyone present that it was a concern to the community, and <br />