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Cops, Prostitutes and Pimps: No Arrests on a Saturday in Honolulu
The Story Behind Our "Cops, Prostitutes and Pimps" Series
By John Temple 03/12/2012
As a tourism mecca and with its history of importing agricultural workers, concern about human trafficking in Hawaii has run high in recent years.
We've seen accusations against Maui Land and Pineapple and the botched prosecution of the owners of Aloun Farms on Oahu. This year, the nation's largest human trafficking case ever will be prosecuted in Honolulu.
The issue surfaced prominently when Civil Beat launched in May 2010. That spring saw the Hawaii Legislature unanimously pass human trafficking legislation that was uniformly opposed by law enforcement and ultimately vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle.
We decided then to make human trafficking in Hawaii a coverage focus, and Assistant Editor Sara Lin and other reporters began investigating the issue. To say it wasn't easy is an understatement. While we could cover labor trafficking by following trials, we found an almost total lack of cooperation from the Honolulu Police Department when it came to trying to understand sex trafficking.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/03/12/15148-the-story-behind-our-cops-prostitutes-and-pimps-series/
By John Temple 03/12/2012
As a tourism mecca and with its history of importing agricultural workers, concern about human trafficking in Hawaii has run high in recent years.
We've seen accusations against Maui Land and Pineapple and the botched prosecution of the owners of Aloun Farms on Oahu. This year, the nation's largest human trafficking case ever will be prosecuted in Honolulu.
The issue surfaced prominently when Civil Beat launched in May 2010. That spring saw the Hawaii Legislature unanimously pass human trafficking legislation that was uniformly opposed by law enforcement and ultimately vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle.
We decided then to make human trafficking in Hawaii a coverage focus, and Assistant Editor Sara Lin and other reporters began investigating the issue. To say it wasn't easy is an understatement. While we could cover labor trafficking by following trials, we found an almost total lack of cooperation from the Honolulu Police Department when it came to trying to understand sex trafficking.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/03/12/15148-the-story-behind-our-cops-prostitutes-and-pimps-series/
Part 1 of 4:
By Sara Lin 03/12/2012
Want to hire a prostitute in Honolulu and get away with it? Do it on a Saturday.
A Civil Beat investigation of 12 months' worth of prostitution arrests shows that there is virtually no enforcement of prostitution laws on weekends.
In one year's time, Honolulu police made no prostitution arrests on Saturdays and just two arrests on a Sunday, and both of those were on the same day at the same location. That's no prostitutes, johns or pimps arrested on the busiest night of the week. Police made a total of 214 arrests in a 12-month period, with weekends making up less than 1 percent of those arrests. Instead, the majority of all prostitution arrests took place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Honolulu police refused repeated requests for an interview and would only answer questions via email. The department declined to say whether its 90 officers in narcotics and vice work on weekends.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/03/12/15147-cops-prostitutes-and-pimps-no-arrests-on-a-saturday-in-honolulu/
Want to hire a prostitute in Honolulu and get away with it? Do it on a Saturday.
A Civil Beat investigation of 12 months' worth of prostitution arrests shows that there is virtually no enforcement of prostitution laws on weekends.
In one year's time, Honolulu police made no prostitution arrests on Saturdays and just two arrests on a Sunday, and both of those were on the same day at the same location. That's no prostitutes, johns or pimps arrested on the busiest night of the week. Police made a total of 214 arrests in a 12-month period, with weekends making up less than 1 percent of those arrests. Instead, the majority of all prostitution arrests took place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Honolulu police refused repeated requests for an interview and would only answer questions via email. The department declined to say whether its 90 officers in narcotics and vice work on weekends.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/03/12/15147-cops-prostitutes-and-pimps-no-arrests-on-a-saturday-in-honolulu/
I will post all 4 parts as they are published. Sex-trafficking is an abomination - and the failure of the Honolulu Police Department to enforce the laws of the people of Hawaii and to help those who are victimized by its conduct is a black mark on the State of Hawaii. I have seen the open conduct of the sex trade in Waikiki and can assure you that the police do not make even a modicum of effort generally to impinge its operation.
14 replies
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...with a grimace and a growl. 
Prostitution in Honolulu has an interesting history - before 1944 prostitution was legal and regulated by the Honolulu Police Department and was governed by the so-called "10 Commandments" that kept prostitution restricted to Mainland imports and confined to a several block area in downtown Honolulu. Sailors lined up around the block to get into the brothels. The History Channel did a full hour on topic entitled "XY Factor: Sex in World War II: The Pacific Front."
ean O'Hara (1913[1] - 1973) was a famed prostitute in Honolulu's "vice district" during World War II.
Born Betty Jean O'Hara in Chicago, Illinois, she was the only child of strict Catholic parents. Her father was a medical doctor.[1] Police records show that between 1934 and 1938, just prior to her arrival in Hawaii, O'Hara had been arrested for prostitution three times.[1]
Miss O'Hara violated the so-called "10 commandments" (for prostitutes) by working outside of Chinatown, which landed her in jail for a period. She made money by purchasing choice real estate and then selling at a substantial profit. When the neighbors discovered who was moving in they would usually pitch in to buy her out. O'Hara thus made a fortune by openly flouting the "rules". She helped force a head with the police which insisted on turning the Chinatown Vice district over to the military, who fixed the price of tricks at $3 and did not otherwise interfere. O'Hara is credited with inventing the "bull pen" system where a single prostitute would work three rooms in rotation: In one room a man would be undressing, in a second room the prostitute would be having sex, and in the third room the man would be dressing. With price controls circumventing the laws of supply and demand, O'Hara's system sped up the process and allowed each prostitute to see many more 'johns' every day.
After martial law ended in 1944, O'Hara's book "My Life as a Honolulu Prostitute" was the straw that broke the camel's back, and led to a complete shutdown of the brothels. Her book was later re-published under the title "Honolulu Harlot."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_O%27Hara
Born Betty Jean O'Hara in Chicago, Illinois, she was the only child of strict Catholic parents. Her father was a medical doctor.[1] Police records show that between 1934 and 1938, just prior to her arrival in Hawaii, O'Hara had been arrested for prostitution three times.[1]
Miss O'Hara violated the so-called "10 commandments" (for prostitutes) by working outside of Chinatown, which landed her in jail for a period. She made money by purchasing choice real estate and then selling at a substantial profit. When the neighbors discovered who was moving in they would usually pitch in to buy her out. O'Hara thus made a fortune by openly flouting the "rules". She helped force a head with the police which insisted on turning the Chinatown Vice district over to the military, who fixed the price of tricks at $3 and did not otherwise interfere. O'Hara is credited with inventing the "bull pen" system where a single prostitute would work three rooms in rotation: In one room a man would be undressing, in a second room the prostitute would be having sex, and in the third room the man would be dressing. With price controls circumventing the laws of supply and demand, O'Hara's system sped up the process and allowed each prostitute to see many more 'johns' every day.
After martial law ended in 1944, O'Hara's book "My Life as a Honolulu Prostitute" was the straw that broke the camel's back, and led to a complete shutdown of the brothels. Her book was later re-published under the title "Honolulu Harlot."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_O%27Hara
I think to a great extent this history has all been forgotten in Honolulu outside of maybe the police force.
...and you'll notice it - from the street walkers to the pimps to the lookouts. It really is that obvious. I remember on my 21st birthday I walked down to Waikiki to go get a drink at midnight, and walking out of the bar I was propositioned - anyone who spends much time in Waikiki knows that the sex trade is on the surface. Honestly, it's easier to find a hooker in Waikiki than it is to buy $20 worth of marijuana. The Waikiki Business Association paid $75,000 dollars to the police department to pay for overtime shifts so the police would actually patrol the sidewalks.
Who are you calling strange? 
Rita Coury
By Sara Lin 03/13/2012
In one year, Honolulu police made more than 200 prostitution arrests. But only one of those arrests involved a pimp — and he was never charged.
That finding comes from Civil Beat's investigation into how Honolulu police enforce Hawaii's prostitution laws. To determine the scope of sex trafficking in Honolulu, Civil Beat tracked prostitution arrests for one year through the daily booking log, a public document that lists basic information about every arrest on Oahu.
The Honolulu Police Department confirmed that it had arrested just one pimp in 2011. The department said it also arrested just one pimp in 2010.
-------
The lone pimp arrested in 2011 was Isaiah Black, 26, of Mililani. He was arrested for promoting prostitution on May 24, in Red Hill, a residential neighborhood adjacent to Tripler Medical Center. It was a Tuesday, minutes before midnight.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/03/13/15149-cops-prostitutes-and-pimps-in-one-year-one-pimp-arrested/
One arrest of a pimp the whole year, and outside of Waikiki!
By Sara Lin 03/15/2012
Honolulu is one of 39 cities around the country that has a federally-funded task force to investigate human trafficking. But a Civil Beat analysis of every prostitution arrest made in the last year reveals not one sex trafficking victim.
In other words, either Honolulu doesn't have a sex trafficking problem — or local law enforcement isn't doing enough to investigate it.
A Civil Beat probe into how the Honolulu Police Department enforces prostitution laws shows the department made 214 arrests in a 12-month period. That included 118 women and 96 men.
Yet Honolulu City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro says as far as he knows, none of those arrested was later discovered to be a victim of human trafficking.
More: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/03/15/15152-cops-prostitutes-and-pimps-arrests-turn-up-no-trafficking-victims/
This is the final installment in the series.
