Angels On The Street

Guardian Angels take to Honolulu streets and parks to deter crime, and will soon graduate a new class of recruits

until the police arrive. “We don’t carry any type of weapon during patrols, but we do carry handcuffs,” says Costanios.

Pre-patrol protocol requires that every member submit themselves to a pat-down search to assure no weapons are carried during a patrol.

During a late-night patrol in Liliha’s Kunawai Park, the Angels’ presence was clear and appreciated. Members set out in patrol groups, receiving friendly waves from neighborhood residents. That evening, former KC Drive-In owner Dayton Asato and his wife Jean drove up to offer the Angels a few bags of potato chips as a token of gratitude — the chips were graciously accepted and quickly devoured.

Jean Asato, 39, who grew up in the Kunawai area and whose parents still reside in the neighborhood, noticed the difference. “It was a great place to grow up, but in recent times I didn’t feel comfortable taking my kids to the playground because there were a lot of suspicious groups of youths during the day and night … and drug dealing was going on until a neighborhood watch group and the Guardian Angels came in to help clean up the area,” she says. Von-Dell Waiwaiole-Cabos is a founding member the Citizens Patrol of Ewa Beach in cooperation with the federal/HPD Weed & Seed program. “We were having problems with drug dealing, gambling, prostitution, speeders, and abandoned vehicles on Fort Weaver Road, Ewa Beach Road and at Ewa Beach Park,” says Waiwaiole-Cabos.

In the summer of 2004, Waiwaiole-Cabos, 50, and the Citizens Patrol met the Guardian Angels during a Weed & Seed function and extended an invitation to the Angels to speak during a Citizens Patrol meeting. In that meeting, both groups discussed how they can join forces for their common cause, and became a match made in Heaven.

Waiwaiole-Cabos shared that in the beginning, the Citizens Patrol was not a smooth operation.

“When we first started the Citizens Patrol … we would encounter (threatening) situations, but one night we had (more than) 30 people, which included the Honolulu Police Department and the Guardian Angels … and we (overcame) our fear.”

Asked to offer her advice to other citizens wishing to reclaim their communities, Waiwaiole- Cabos urges others to not fear “taking a stand against the criminal element … stick together, start patrols. Stand up and protect your community as you would your home.”

The Guardian Angels gladly avail themselves to speak costfree to any community group wishing to establish a neighborhood patrol. The Guardian Angels survive economically through the volunteer efforts of its members, and humbly accept monetary donations that are tax-deductible, as blessings to their mission.

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