For the first time, the City and County of Honolulu is placing a police officer at the DMV. It’s to protect the public and staff at the Kalihi office.
Plan to renew your license at City Square on Dillingham Boulevard? Be patient. Some people waited:
"About an hour and a half," said Jeni Tsuji, driver.
"Roughly two hours," another driver said.
"About an hour and a half to two hours," said Amber Bookhard, driver.
It’s the largest DMV in the county, which means, the longest lines. Sometimes, you’ll see only two staff members at the counter.
"I can see people getting fussy, stomping on the ground, stuff like that," Tsuji said.
In addition to disgruntled people, who sometimes get rejected when they get to the counter because of insufficient documents;
"People from the outside come in, try ask for money from the public, swearing, loud noise," said Dennis Kamimura, licensing administrator.
So the city is periodically placing a special duty officer inside the Kalihi location.
"It would make it safer both for the public as well as the staff," Kamimura said.
He hopes police presence, will remind people they are in a city facility and should behave appropriately.
"Having an officer here probably would help out a lot because people do get antsy waiting a really really long time," Bookhard said.
"If I can get irritated and I can actually control myself very good, and people can’t, then it’s kind of good to have police officers around," Tsuji said.
It’s not known how long the city will staff this branch with a police officer, and city officials do not know, if it will help. But regardless, some of these people, will be back.
"I have to, I need my license," Tsuji said.
"If you’re going to come up here, you just gotta stick it out," Bookhard said.
City officials say they do not know how much it costs to hire a police officer because they haven’t received their first bill yet.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
