Anyone who follows the Big Island Thieves Facebook group or even makes normal rounds, have seen the spike in car thefts, these past few months. This month we are at almost an average of a car a day, when comparing numbers of cars to days with 24 vehicles being stolen, in just 27 days. Reminding the island, of the never confirmed but recognizable label, of the “300 Club” who over a matter of months had the people on the island in a frenzy.
Hondas seem to be at the top of the holiday shopping list for the Big Island Crumbs, with almost half the cars being stolen in the past 27 days, being a Honda make. A few of the cars stolen have been recovered by HPD along with the public assistance through social media and tips from friends and family.
2020 has been an unusual year as the world faces a pandemic by the name of COVID-19. With so many changes to lifestyles in general, a more shocking turn was a push by The Office of the Attorney General to the State of Hawaiʻi to release certain inmates from the prison population, popularly deemed the CoronaVirus Freedom Act.
This release has not only affected the incarcerated, but the Courts have also jumped into the chaos by removing bail and releasing suspects on supervised release. In one such case, a suspect at the time of arrest, was on supervised release for prior similar felony offenses, only a matter of weeks before.
With little to no threat of punishment or jail time, is it any wonder that crime would be on the rise?
Mitch Roth, Hawai’i County current Prosecuting Attorney, who won the recent General Election in his bid for Big Islands’ Mayorship, will have his inauguration on December 7, 2020. Mitch has been Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney since 2012. Kelden Waltjen, who won in the Primary Election, will also take office on December 7th, becoming the new and youngest Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney.
With all these car thefts so close as one era ends and the next begins, it leaves a County in question. Is it all just coincidence? Or is this an Aloha to the Old Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney at end of his prosecuting legacy, from Hawai’i County Crumbs? Or a test of the waters, to welcome the new Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney?
Either way… secure your belongings, because the Crumbs are Holiday Shopping!
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