Honolulu Police Are Issuing An 'Unprecedented' Number Of Pandemic Tickets

Honolulu police issued a record number of citations in recent weeks, straining the court system, frustrating residents and further calling into question the city’s approach to dealing with the public health crisis.

In the last month alone, the Honolulu Police Department has issued approximately 44,000 citations related to the mayor’s pandemic rules and arrested 65 people for violations.

It’s more than double the total of all criminal cases the District Court handled in 2019.

“A lot of people think we need to do more warnings,” Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard told the Honolulu Police Commission Wednesday as she recited the numbers. “Well, we did warn from March until August, we had over 11,000 warnings. We actually had more warnings than we did citations. It did not work. The numbers kept coming up. So we switched to more enforcement.”

Read more: https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/09/honolulu-police-are-issuing-an-unprecedented-number-of-pandemic-tickets/