I accompanied DeMello one Friday evening and early Saturday to glimpse the darker side of Waikiki that visitors and kamaaina may never see. Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest for police, but DeMello calls this a slow weekend night:. As we drive through Waikiki, the police radio carries a report of a man threatening to jump from the 24th floor of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Officers arrive and the man voluntarily agrees to be taken to a hospital. Officers see a woman driving erratically on Kalakaua Avenue at Pau Street. She fails the field sobriety test and is driven to the main police station. Two Chihuahuas in the car are taken by officers to the Hawaiian Humane Society. As the tourist files a police report, the street performer comes back and returns the money. Offering services for a fee on the sidewalk without a permit, as street performers do, is against the law and HPD has a special unit to address this.
No arrest is made. As we patrol on foot, homeless people begin walking from Kapiolani Park, which closes at midnight, to the mauka side of Kalakaua Avenue to set up makeshift beds along the sidewalk.
Interestingly, no one camps on the makai side of Kalakaua β apparently because the homeless feel they must keep some distance from the beach, which closes at 2 a. A New Zealander approaches DeMello to report his year-old son has been missing for the past few hours. DeMello tells a young man he cannot skateboard on the sidewalk. Rollerblades, skateboards and bicycles are not allowed on Waikiki sidewalks, but Segways are OK. DeMello tells a handful of tourists crossing on a red light that there is a fine for crossing on red.
They apologize and keep walking. DeMello tells me she has been on the streets for years and would steal from tourists as a teenager. She and a group of other local homeless people exchange friendly greetings with the officer. Homeless people line the mauka sidewalk along Kalakaua Avenue.
