HILO — Hawaii Island’s police chief said the decision to post extra officers on public school campuses Wednesday in Puna and Kona was made because social media “fed into the anxiety” of the community in the wake of perceived threats of possible gun violence made on the internet.
Chief Paul Ferreira noted Wednesday police had identified the juveniles thought responsible for the posts, “so having the officers at the schools was just an extra precaution, pretty much to get the community comfortable, because there was a lot of anxiety.”
“On social media, everybody was picking up on it and reading into it,” Ferreira said. “It fed into the anxiety, because people were calling in to our dispatch, to our Pahoa station and to our Kona station, trying to find out what’s going on.”
Capt. Samuel Jelsma, the Puna police commander, said two patrol officers and two community policing officers spent the school day Wednesday at Pahoa High School, while four other officers, including a reserve officer and a recruit, kept the peace at Keaau High and Intermediate schools.
“No issues today, no incidents,” Jelsma said.
Maj. Robert Wagner, Area II Operations commander in Kona, said there were six officers at Konawaena High School, including a school resource officer assigned to Konawaena Middle School, which is on the same campus. He said no unusual incidents occurred Wednesday at the Kealakekua school.
According to Wagner and Jelsma, overtime was minimal, because two Puna patrol officers were kept on duty three hours beyond the overnight shift, and a single Kona patrol officer earned an hour of overtime. All were assigned to take service calls to allow for the increased police presence at schools.