WAILUA — The Kaua‘i Police Department is continuing its efforts to help restore a greater sense of safety in public spaces around the island. The most recent endeavor included the parking lot of Wailua Beach, adjacent to the Kuhio Highway bridge.
On Tuesday around 7 a.m., KPD officers helped community members vacate the area beside the Wailua Bridge, where people had been driving and illegally parking their vehicles for more than a year.
Approximately two weeks prior to Tuesday, Lihu‘e District Commander Lt. Scott Brede and Hanalei District Commander Acting Lt. Darren Rose organized routine visits to the area to provide an advanced warning to the owners of the vehicles that they needed to vacate the premises.
All vehicles were successfully removed on Tuesday, and with the help of representatives from the County of Kaua‘i’s Parks & Recreation Department, a new set of boulders was installed to prevent vehicle owners from continuing to illegally drive and park at the Wailua River mouth.
“We are responding to numerous public complaints regarding this specific area,” said Detective Barry DeBlake. “In keeping with Chief Todd Raybuck’s crime-reduction goals, KPD has initiated a project that will be completed in phases. The result will be to take back this part of the Wailua bridge and make it safer for the public to use once again.”
The removal of the vehicles and installation of the boulders completes phase one of this KPD project.
Phase two is slated for March, and will include a collaboration between KPD, the County of Kaua‘i and the state Department of Transportation.
The goal of this phase is not only to combat unsafe and criminal activity, but to continue making contact with community members who are living underneath the bridge and provide them with services that offer help with shelter and employment guidance.
“I want to say a special ‘thank you’ to Detective DeBlake, who has been spearheading this project,” said Raybuck.
”This is just the beginning of what we have in the works to make our public spaces more comfortable for the entire community to use once again,” Raybuck said in a press release.
“I also want to thank everyone else at KPD who has been extremely proactive with these endeavors, as well as our county and state partners.”
Another fine example of the degenerates on this island ruining something for everybody.
If DLNR would check their areas daily, the County would not have to go in and clean up their mess
Why is this so hard to figure out…. Hire civilian employees to go out and tow these vehicles as “junk” tows. Load the civilian employees with VIN Numbers (Vehicle ID books) to find the secret VIN’s . Bill the registered owners or whoever the release of liability is to. You will only have to do this a few times and people will get the message that they will be held accountable for dumping their cars. The Chief of Police is from Las Vegas. He should know this.
Exactly!! DLNR what a joke, they are too busy dealing with the real issues like chasing down mountain bikers in Kokee. Literally had one hide in the bushes & jump out to tackle a BIKE RIDER! Another “officer”once told my wife he has the authority to shoot our dog if its not on a leash. Unbelievable that this is where our tax money is going. Meanwhile there are people living on our beaches, trashing the place, dismantling cars and letting them wash into the ocean, doing drugs and stealing from whoever they can and the DLNR drives right by not saying a thing. Something has got to change.. NOW!!
Tip of the Day: two abandoned vehicles are still on the beach in front of the Wailua golf course net: at least a month and counting.