Spreading aloha to visitors in trouble, by Robbie Dingeman

Tourist crime in Waikiki down 40% since '02, by Kristen Consillio

Outpouring of Aloha for Scouts, by Robert Shikina

Scouts Cheered by Isle Donations, by Alyssa S. Navares

Experts Discuss Visitor Safety, by Brittany Yap

Single Mom Dies While Swimming with Son, posted on Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Woman dies after tumbling into surf, by Peter Boylan

Photo illustration by Laurie Arakaki and Russell McCrory, The Honolulu Advertiser

Visitor Aloha Society President Jessica Lani Rich, right, helped give Ashley Streich a birthday party at Planet Hollywood Waikiki in 2005 after Ashley and her father, John, left, were hurt in a glider crash.

Single dad Michael Archer flew to Honolulu in March with his two daughters, ages 6 and 15, for a spring break vacation. After he collapsed suddenly in their hotel room, the girls ended up in protective custody, and the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii went to work.

Honolulu police called brother Keith Archer in their hometown in the Chicago area to tell him that his brother was critically ill. And they called his brother's ex-wife, who shared custody of 6-year-old Brianna. The family members flew to Hawai'i and got help from the visitor assistance group — VASH.

Keith Archer said his brother's condition deteriorated: "He was in a coma. It was very bad." The ordeal got worse when the state social worker told him that 15-year-old Miranda would remain in protective custody for one more night because it was too late in the day to reunite her with them without the proper paperwork.

Archer, in a telephone interview, said VASH and Honolulu police helped guide them through the trauma and bureaucracy.

"I cannot say enough about what they did," Archer said. "They just opened their hearts and their arms to total strangers."

"They even arranged a memorial service for my brother at one of the piers on the ocean," complete with someone playing the guitar, police and hotel officials, Archer said. "It was just unbelievable."

His nieces are doing OK since their dad's death and have even started talking about a return trip to Hawai'i. Archer said that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Rich, the volunteers and police. "If it wasn't for them, I would never want to go back," he said.

The nonprofit Visitor Aloha Society was founded in 1997 by the Honolulu Rotary Club. In nearly a decade, it has helped thousands of tourists deal with emergencies and built up goodwill and testimonials from many visitors.

The society — with branches on the Neighbor Islands — operates with consistent and increasing funding from the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. This year the O'ahu budget is $240,000. But the society thrives through the strong support of the visitor industry with in-kind donations of hotel rooms, meals, transportation, private donations and hours of volunteer time.

John and Karen Streich and then-12-year-old daughter Ashley were visiting O'ahu in April 2005 when John and Ashley decided to try a scenic flight in a glider. The glider crashed, killing the pilot and injuring the Streichs.

John, whose family lives in Gig Harbor, Wash., said the VASH folks got in touch with his wife and drove her to the hospital. As the days passed, he said Rich and the others were there to help "with whatever we needed," from transportation to picking up prescriptions.

After the two got better, they coordinated a little birthday party for Ashley at Planet Hollywood Waikiki. "It was just marvelous," John said. "Anything to just brighten your spirits and to take a bad situation and make it better.

'PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE'

John said the family has been visiting the Islands regularly for nearly 20 years but hadn't heard of VASH until they needed help.

"It's not a big bureaucracy, it's just people helping people," he said. The Streichs will be back on a return trip later this year. "We're going to be there in November and enjoy Hawai'i."

Muriel Anderson, vice president of product development for the HTA, said other communities have visitor aid groups, but VASH was started in Honolulu to help crime victims far from home.

"They tried to set up their own structure based on the aloha values of the community," she said, and the idea broadened and spread over the years. "They've become victims of their own success," she said.

HTA's Larraine Koike said visitor reaction to the program is strong and supportive. She said the program has become a model for other communities and has consistently helped in thousands of cases.

Koike said that those helped often call or write asking: "How can we start something like this in our town?"

On O'ahu, the society president and executive director is Jessica Lani Rich, who routinely pitches in to assist visitors herself with everything from memorial services for murder victims to birthday parties and even a case of 800 stolen bikinis.

Rich, who just marked three years with the organization, said they have started to count the cases by the number of people helped as a more accurate measure.

The visitor program helps people who have a round-trip ticket back to their home, Rich said. For the first three months of this year, they assisted 452 visitors.

Rich said the most common complaints are car break-ins, but cases like the Archers are becoming more common with single parents traveling with children.

"I dealt with the two children who were stranded at the hotel," Rich said. "He left two grieving children and it was one of the hardest things I've seen."

COMPELLED TO HELP

Dell Manini works full time for the city Department of Community Services as a case manager/teacher for at-risk youth. At nearly 51, she's gone back to college, too. And she volunteers for VASH several times a month.

She got involved after news broke about Marine Cpl. Quentin Gwynn and his girlfriend Heather Lenhart vacationing in Hawai'i at Waimea Bay. Gwynn rushed to help a teen boy pulled unconscious from the water.

After the boy was stable, Gwynn realized that Lenhart's backpack with all their money, credit cards and video camera had been stolen.

Manini, who lives in Wai'anae Valley, said she called, sent a donation but had to do more, so she signed up as a volunteer. "Wow, this guy saved one of our people and one of our people ripped him off," she said.

More than three years later, she's still helping, sometimes handling four or five cases a month.

"Why? For me, it's to show people that come here, that not everybody is like that," Manini said. "I would want someone to at least try to comfort me. Just be there to hear me out."

One of her cases that stands out is a couple who had stopped on O'ahu after a month in the Philippines doing missionary work.

"They went to the beach for a last dip in the ocean on the Wai'anae Coast, and parked right under a 'do not leave valuables in the car' sign," she said. When the car was stolen, they were shocked and shaken and lost cell phones, luggage, money, credit cards, a laptop with research work and gifts to take back home.

She said the society helped arrange for them to shop for clothes at Ross, obtain phone cards and more. Manini even drove them around back roads to try to find the stolen rental car.

Manini said she feels for the victims: "They think this is paradise and nothing bad happens. We tell them this is a big city and things like this can happen."

In this case, the couple pushed on through the frustration, but broke down when she said good-bye at the airport, telling her: "If that hadn't happened, we wouldn't have met you."

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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Even as record numbers of visitors stream into Waikiki, the number of thefts and robberies reported by tourists in Waikiki is expected to be 40 percent lower this year than five years ago.

So far this year, the number of visitor-related property crimes in Waikiki -- car break-ins, burglaries and theft -- is at 851 through Aug. 29, and is expected to reach roughly 1,150 by the end of the year, according to statistics reported by the Honolulu Police Department's Waikiki district.

That's compared to 1,977 property crimes against visitors in 2002.

The drop in visitor-related crime follows a decade-long national trend of declining crime statistics. Locally, the most recent available data from 2004 found Hawaii's overall property crime rate down 8.7 percent from 2003.

While police and visitor industry executives are heartened by the trend, no one can say precisely why the numbers are down. The best theory is that a combination of factors -- more police on the street, fewer Japanese tourists, better cooperation between the visitor industry and police and even the plentiful job market -- have made Waikiki safer.

In 2002, nearly 200 car break-ins were reported in one month in Waikiki. Today, there are typically between 40 and 60 car break-ins per month.

Police believe the drop in crime is attributable to more officers in Waikiki. Over 24 hours, about 50 officers patrol Waikiki and an additional 15 to 20 new officers per day are assigned to the area as part of a program that puts new recruits in Waikiki to expose them to a broad range of situations. The district also has increased the number of police officers walking, using bicycles and even all-terrain vehicles on the beaches.

Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association, attributes the drop in crime to the state's full employment.

"The improved economy has made a huge difference," he said. "Basically anybody in Hawaii who wants a job can get one. This affects the person who might be a casual thief."

Part of the drop in visitor-related crimes also may be because there are fewer Japanese in Waikiki and more Mainland tourists.

Japanese tourists were once the favored target of purse-snatchers and pickpockets, but with fewer Japanese coming to Hawaii, there are also fewer victims. Unlike many Japanese, Mainland visitors tend to be more wary, making them less appealing as targets of theft.

"Our experience is that many of the Japanese visitors are very trusting," said Jessica Rich, president and executive director of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, which helps visitors who have been victims of crimes. "We have cases where they'll leave their things and walk away. Because we're seeing less of them, that could contribute to why crimes are going down."

Japanese arrivals totalled 1.5 million last year, while U.S. Mainland tourists reached 5 million. Japanese arrivals are expected to drop this year by at least 10 percent.

The Honolulu Police Department and the city prosecutor's office attribute much of the drop in crime to stronger partnerships between the visitor industry, police and private security, which have set up an alert system between properties.

If a crime is committed at a hotel, the head of security will then alert the security directors of other Waikiki properties, including retailers.

"The collaboration has increased from five years ago," said Kaleo Keolanui, director of security and safety at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa, who is part of the Hawaii Hotel and Visitor Industry Security Association. "We share information about incidents that occur on property -- anyone regularly seen, we channel that type of information."

The greatest number of property crimes are still thefts of items from Japanese tourists on the beach. On average, about 40 to 60 thefts a month are reported on Waikiki Beach.

Additional security cameras in busy Waikiki locations were installed and have been an effective tool for prosecutors in charging criminals, said Jim Fulton, executive assistant to prosecuting attorney Peter Carlisle. And starting in 2002, suspects accused of preying on tourists were immediately arrested and charged, rather than dragging out the court process for months, long after the victims had returned home.

"There was a long time when nobody cared about our visitors as it related to crime," Fulton said. "But for the last 10 years there's been better cooperation."

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Phones were ringing off the hook at the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai'i yesterday following reports that some California Boy Scouts had $2,500 worth of belongings stolen from their van.

And many of the more than 40 calls that flooded the office were from businesses and individuals wanting to make donations, said Jessica Rich, president of VASH.

Among the donations was $2,500 from the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation and more than $250 from private donors.

One store offered new glasses for a Scout whose glasses were stolen. A souvenir shop offered to donate key chains, cups, and other souvenirs. A Waimanalo community group offered its support.

VASH will continue collecting donations until 4 p.m. today.

Rich and U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo will present the donations to the troop at a private dinner tonight.

"Maybe (the theft) was a bad deed, but the good deeds are 10 times greater," Rich said. "The outpouring is just tremendous."

The Scouts were overwhelmed by the community support.

"It shows the spirit of aloha of Hawai'i," said Al Hironaga, assistant scoutmaster of Troop 611 of San Jose, Calif. "People who don't really know us are contributing things. It's really nice, but that's not what we were looking for when we made the appeal. We really want the film back and the memory card from the camera."

Someone broke into the troop's van Friday morning when members stopped in Waimanalo for a bite to eat. Just hours after the theft, the troop volunteered to clean up 36 bags of debris at a nearby beach.

The troop will return to help clean Bellows Beach today and will return home tomorrow.

Many people calling to donate to VASH also wanted to express their anger about what happened to the Boy Scouts, Rich said.

"They don't know where to turn or what to do. ... They don't like what happened to the Boy Scouts. They (Troop 611) are going to know the community truly cares what happened to them."

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The community came up with $3,775 in cash for California Boy Scouts who lost their belongings to thieves, but it is hard to replace the digital Kodak moments.

"It's really great to go from a low point and bounce back to a higher one," 16-year-old Tyler Nii said, "but the pictures I had on my camera can never be replaced."

Checks, free dinners, backpacks and reusable cameras replaced the four backpacks, digital camera, cash and traveler's checks stolen from their van as they ate lunch at the Waimanalo McDonald's on Friday.

The boys said they have tried to forget about the theft of $2,500 worth of the troop's belongings and make new memories. For example, Nii proclaimed the first bite of barbecue beef steak the best he has ever had -- a free plate lunch at Rainbow Drive-Inn on Tuesday.

"I really liked going to the Dole Plantation," Eric Beutler said. "Of course, the pineapples at home aren't as good because they're in a can."

Eleven boys and five leaders of the Boy Scout Troop 611 from San Jose, Calif., enjoyed free admission to various local attractions, such as the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Bishop Museum.

President and Executive Director Jessica Rich of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii and U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo presented the donations to the troop yesterday during a farewell dinner at the Willows.

"The experience you had here is not what Hawaii is all about," said Kubo, giving each boy a commander's coin -- his office's award for community service. The Boy Scouts cleaned up Bellows Beach Park on Friday within hours of being ripped off.

The troop returned to Bellows yesterday. They filled 45 bags with driftwood and trash during the two days of cleanup.

"The second time was much more fun because we made a game of pushing the logs," Scoutmaster Stan Kawamata said.

The boys pushed six telephone pole-size logs out of the ocean and next to the road for pickup.

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Peter Tarlow, who specializes in the impact of crime and terrorism on the tourism industry and is a lecturer for the Department of Homeland Security, was one of two keynote speakers at the Sharing Aloha Visitor Crime Awareness Conference yesterday.

More than 200 people, including legislators, law enforcement officers, medical and social service professionals and hospitality and travel industry representatives, attended the conference at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

"It's a wonderful learning experience for everyone," said Jessica Lani Rich, president and executive director for Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii. "It's a coming-together of people who care about visitors."

The Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, an organization that assists visitors in emergency situations, hosted its first conference to raise awareness of crimes against visitors and discuss how to implement solutions.

The conference, paid for by a grant from the state attorney general's office, took on a number of topics, including types of crimes against visitors, identity theft, car break-ins, robberies and visitor assistance and safety measures.

Approximately 7.5 million people visit Hawai'i each year, said Frank Haas, vice president of tourism and marketing for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

In his speech, Tarlow emphasized the importance of having visible security and police officers at tourist hot spots, such as Waikiki.

"Security sells," Tarlow said. "Where you have high security, tourists tend to stay longer and spend more money."

He compared this to the early 1990s, when plainclothes police officers would patrol Waikiki so tourists wouldn't be afraid.

"That theory was wrong," Tarlow said.

The Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii program was first launched in 1996 by a sub-committee of the Rotary Club of Honolulu. The program on O'ahu was established as its own nonprofit agency in 1997. VASH services are provided on O'ahu, Maui, Kaua'i and the Big Island.

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Police said the woman and her 12-year-old son went to swim with the dolphins along the Leeward Coast. After being in the water for five minutes, she became ill and was brought to the harbor.

The woman, a single parent, died while being transported to St. Francis Medical Center-West, police said.

Jessica Lani Rich, president of Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, said she was called to the hospital emergency room along with volunteer Richard Soo to comfort the boy after he was told his mother had died.

The boy was sent home to Calgary, Canada. According to a Visitor Aloha Society press release, the boy's aunt, Linda Kockerback, said, "Everything was taken care of for us in getting our nephew back home. ... An entire group of people pulled together and got us through a very difficult time."

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