State briefs for June 9

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All-clear after threat locks down Pearl Harbor

HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. military gave an “all-clear” after an unspecified threat prompted an hours-long lockdown of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Tuesday.

A military news release didn’t elaborate on the “potential incident” that required the base to close entrances to the base and to direct residents and employees to shelter in place at 9:39 a.m.

“While the base remained fully operational, the Emergency Operations Center was manned to coordinate the response to the threat,” said an afternoon release announcing the all-clear.

Units from the Honolulu Police Department and Federal Fire Department helped with the investigation, the military said.

During the investigation, tours were suspended while guests at the USS Arizona Memorial and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum sheltered in place. Tours were later allowed to resume.

Audit calls for streamlined domestic violence data

HONOLULU (AP) — An audit has called for the Honolulu Police Department and the prosecutor’s office to streamline data collection of domestic violence cases.

The audit by the Honolulu Office of the City Auditor said there needs to be data collection practices integrating both departments to reduce redundancy.

Tiffany Kaeo, division chief of the Family Prosecution Division in the prosecutor’s office, said data is collected on violations of Hawaii law regarding abuse of family or household members. However, other violations of the law could be domestic violence cases.

As an example, she said, if a woman is assaulted by her boyfriend who breaks her nose, that case will be classified as an assault, while someone who breaks a tourist’s nose would also be an assault.

“There’s no distinguishing way to identify domestic violence from those assaults,” Kaeo said.

The audit report also noted that domestic violence cases dropped about 31% in 2020 compared to the previous year.

But that doesn’t mean there was a reduction in domestic violence, because there was an increase in calls to a domestic violence help line during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Domestic Violence Action Center CEO Nanci Kreidman.

“Just because it might be happening in the home, it may not necessarily be reported to police or law enforcement,” Kaeo said.