Georgia Kay of the Palamea Neighborhood Association says residents need to get involved if they want to save their neighborhoods."The Legislature thinks there is no crime," said Kay, resident of a small Kalihi neighborhood that got riled up at area crime and banded into one of the island's successful community watch efforts.
She spoke at the end of a two-hour symposium last night to launch the city's anti-crime legislation package.
Kay couldn't have done better if she had been booked for the benediction in expressing the theme of the meeting called by Mayor Jeremy Harris.
About 120 people from neighborhood boards and other community associations, and representatives of city departments and agencies heard Harris outline his package of 17 bills that address crime.
A "truth in sentencing" bill, requiring that a felon serve 85 percent of a sentence, is one of several that mirror the proposals offered by the Law Enforcement Coalition of police departments, prosecuting attorneys and attorney general.
Others provide for mandatory sentences for repeated convictions on misdemeanors and in prostitution cases. Another would lower to 14 the age at which a juvenile could be tried as an adult for a violent crime.
"It's up to the citizens to say 'crime is our most important issue.' We shouldn't let it be same-sex marriage, or gambling," Harris said.
"We want to forge a lobbying organization tonight."
The key bill, said Harris, calls for a $15 million appropriation to provide for at least 700 additional spaces in the state prison system.
"Without this, all the rest is worthless," said the mayor. He envisions an addition to the Waiawa Correctional Center.
The "truth in sentencing" measure, which dilutes the Hawaii Paroling Authority's complete discretion on setting actual sentences, would automatically make Hawaii eligible for federal funds, he said.
"We want you out lobbying so the governor knows that the community supports these idea," Harris told the crowd. "If we just had the people in this room show up, it would be a significant impact."
He asked attendees to sign up for subjects on which they are willing to testify. He described a network of information sharing about public hearings.
"We ask you not to be intimidated by the process," he said.
Mitchell Roth, a deputy prosecutor and member of the Community Coalition for Neighborhood Safety, said legislators responded to the group's attendance at hearings last year.
"The usual hearing will have police and prosecutor testifying on one side, public defender on the other."
A citizens group which appears with specific concerns, for instance about keeping prostitutes or drug dealers off their particular street, "makes a compelling argument," Roth said.
"We have the second lowest violent crime rate xxx of cities of comparable size," Harris said.
He said community policing efforts by police and citizen involvement in neighborhood watch and similar organizations can be credited for the 10 percent decrease in crime over the last year.
The proposal by the state's top law enforcement officers would require convicted felons to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for parole.
The bill also calls for giving judges more options in sentencing. They currently mete out sentences of five, 10 or 20 years and leave the rest up to the Hawaii Paroling Authority. The bill would reduce the authority's role.
The Law Enforcement Coalition, made up of Hawaii's prosecutors and police chiefs, calls the bill critical. A criminal convicted of a Class A felony, which carries a 20-year sentence, typically is freed within five or six years, the coalition said.
House Judiciary Chairman Terrance Tom last year would not give a hearing to the "truth in sentencing" bill because he felt the Cayetano administration did not back the plan with a push for more prison space. Tom, like others, believes prisons will become crowded if the bill passes.
But Tom said he'll hear the bill this year because the Cayetano administration appears more open to adding prison space.
"I think the public is demanding it and they rightly deserve it, and we're going to look real hard at it, but again it's going to depend on funds," Tom said.
"The public is demanding that criminals serve the appropriate time," echoed Senate Judiciary Co-Chairman Avery Chumbley.
Chumbley said Judiciary Co-Chairman Matt Matsunaga also "seems to be favorable to it."
State Attorney General Margery Bronster called the "truth in sentencing" bill the centerpiece among 10 proposals the coalition is sending to the Legislature.
The coalition also called for mandatory jail for those convicted of misdemeanors for a fourth time.
Chumbley said he's not sure if the measure will keep repeat offenders off the street. Tom said the issue once again boils down to whether there's enough prison space.
Tom and Chumbley endorsed the coalition's proposal to give Family Court judges authority to waive jurisdiction over minors as young as 14 in serious crime cases. Tom said he introduced a similar bill last year that was killed by the Senate.
On the coalition's push to have information on convicted sex offenders be made public, Tom said he's for it. Chumbley said care should be taken in determining who sees the information. Currently, only police see it.
Chumbley and Tom said they also endorse stronger penalties against those convicted of crimes involving crystal methamphetamine.
The "safe street package" proposed by Mayor Jeremy Harris includes bills that would:
Set a mandatory 30-day sentence for public prostitution.