NEW 'ICE' TASK FORCE HOPES TO CUT FRUSTRATION OF DELAY

WAIKOLOA RESORT, Hawaii -- Big Island residents with an "ice" distribution
house in their neighborhood often complain about the seemingly slow response of
police in getting rid of it.

Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna knows exactly what it feels like. An ice house was
located two doors from his Waimea home, and the department needed five months
to get rid of it, he said yesterday during the Big Island ice summit.

During those five months, Mahuna's lawn mower was stolen, the tires were
removed from his truck and thieves even stole a toilet from a bathroom in his
garage.

The incidents finally ended about eight months ago with the arrest of the
suspects, he said. "It seemed like an eternity," he said.

The creation of a new ice task force in the department should help, Mahuna
said. The task force will have three officers in East Hawaii and three in West
Hawaii, all assigned exclusively to crystal methamphetamine cases.

That should speed up enforcement. Instead of five months, the department is
hoping to be able to close ice houses in a month to six weeks, Mahuna said.

The task still will not be easy. To get evidence that will hold up in court,
police need to send an undercover agent into a suspected drug house on more
than one occasion to make at least a couple of drug buys, he said.