Waipahu school falls victim to thieves twice during spring break

HONOLULU (KHON2) – Surveillance video captures a thief breaking into August Ahrens Elementary School aquaponic area not once, but twice during spring break.

“Someone came in, cut through here and went right in,” said Ronie Martinez, August Ahrens Elementary School Vice Principal.

According to Honolulu police, the first incident happened on March 12 around 3 a.m. and then again on March 20 around 1 a.m. Police said, no arrests have been made at this time.

“The things he wanted were kind of the higher ticket items. First thing was a leaf blower and some gardening equipment, some smaller shovels and the pots our kids would use to plant things,” said Martinez.

“Any time that we lose any products that should be benefiting the students, it’s quite unfortunate,” said Hanh Nguyen, August Ahrens Elementary School Principal.

From vandalism a few months ago, to people using the school’s water and electricity overnight, August Ahrens even installed metal barriers to prevent people from crawling through openings into secured areas. The school already has contracted security guards at night, but is adding five more surveillance cameras for a total of 36.

“We’re doing the best with what we have and anything additional to help mitigate issues at schools we would appreciate,” Martinez said.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are approving funding for the Department of Education for enhanced security measures. As part of the proposed state budget, the DOE would receive $5 million for security. The DOE said it originally asked for $10 million, but this is a great start. It wants to use the funding for things like perimeter fencing, upgrading security cameras and adding security guards at schools. An additional $10 million will go towards door lock replacements.

“This is not just an isolated incident that happened in Waipahu, it’s happening throughout this state and it is really unfortunate,” said Rep. Rachele Lamosao, (D) Waipahu.

Lawmakers said, individual schools can also tap into other pots of money while reevaluating their security systems. They add, bottom line is no one should be stealing from Hawaii’s keiki.

“Don’t take from our schools, we work hard and everyone works hard to provide for our schools and you’re taking away from someone’s education,” said Rep. Justin Woodson, (D) House Committee on Education Chair.

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Anyone with information on these burglary cases is asked to call HPD.