ONE MAN'S ICE STORY

Editor's note: This is the third and final in a series focusing on property
crime and its impact on the community.

Smoking so much "ice" he'd forget how many nights he'd been awake, cruising
darkened neighborhoods to steal from carports, triggering arguments with his
wife so he had an excuse to beat her - these are a few of the memories
Thomas P. Gouveia III said he carries.

"Lie, cheat and steal. I did it all. All for ice," he said.

In the final three years of his decade - long spiral into ice or crystal
methamphetamine addiction Gouveia's violence cost him a divorce, custody of
his two children and earned him a felony abuse of a family member
conviction.

Gouveia belongs to a disgraced minority - ice addicts convicted of crimes.
He also belongs to a significantly smaller group - addicts who admit
addiction, attempt to repay victims and society, and daily struggle to
remain clean.

According to local social service agencies' data, as much as 90 percent of
violence against family members is inflicted by ice users.

County police statistics indicate virtually all property crimes in West
Hawaii are committed by drug users, said Kona Police Capt. John Dawrs.

"It's true," Gouveia said, ice addicts steal to buy more ice.

The social costs are huge: more than 700 Big Island children in protective
custody.

Property losses can be staggering. On the Big Island in 2001, almost $4.7
million of property was reported stolen, yet only $700,000 worth recovered.

Balanced against that recovery rate is one of the state's highest rates of
case clearance in property crimes. Statewide, 10.8 percent of all property
crimes were cleared in 2001; 22 percent were cleared in Hawaii County.

"We're shooting to clear 33 percent of all burglaries," in 2002 said Dawrs
of the Kona station's goals. Through August 2002, there were 1,636 thefts
reported with a clearance rate of 28 percent. Of the 298 burglaries
reported, the clearance rate was 14 percent. Police consider a case cleared
when a report is turned over to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said 70 and 80 percent of cases forwarded to their office result
in conviction. "About 20 to 30 percent are screened out," said Deputy
Prosecuting Attorney Charlene Iboshi. "It depends on the quality of the
police investigation."

Dawrs credits patrol officers, who cover 12 patrol districts each shift with
only eight officers and manage the paperwork of more than 1,000 cases and
reports each month, for the relative success in clearing property crimes.

"But we can't do it alone," Dawrs said. The support of community
Neighborhood Watch groups organized by community policing officers like Stan
Haanio is vital, Dawrs said.

Gouveia said he's lucky, his conviction likely stopped him from permanently
injuring his wife. Unlike many ice addicts who've lost their memories,
Gouveia stopped smoking while he still had recall.

Gouveia said he remembers an ice addict "friend" he brought to the hospital
with a bullet hole through the foot. "He was glad he'd shot the metal bugs"
crawling up his foot, Gouveia said.

Cruising through neighborhoods at night, looking for things to steal, that's
another act Gouveia said he wishes he had not done. "But on ice you don't
care. Carports. Lots of carports. People leave so much stuff lying around."

Gouveia denied breaking into homes to steal tools, electronics, jewelry or
cash - the main traffic of the ice trade - but admitted he was with people
who did.

When Gouveia quit ice 23 months ago, he said he was so tired he couldn't
remember even the smallest daily details.

Gouveia's willingness to recognize the harm of his past actions, and his
ongoing efforts to make amends are all part of the two, 12 - step programs
he follows each day, he said.

"I'm a batterer," he said. "I did it. No one else. Every day I remember
that."

Gouveia claims to have been clean and sober for almost two years. He works
full - time as a laborer for a local contractor, checks in monthly with his
probation officer and is tested at random times for the presence of illegal
drugs or alcohol in his system.

One or two weekends each month, Gouveia checks into the Hawaii Community
Correctional Center in Hilo. He's served more than a third of his 180 - day
jail sentence.

As long as he keeps a full - time job, keeps clean drug tests, and violates
none of the laundry list of other conditions of his five - year probation,
Gouveia will serve only 180 days in jail. If he fails any condition, he
could go back for five years.

The threat of jail is a powerful incentive to stay straight, Gouveia said.
"But I really want to be back with my kids."

Gouveia hopes to regain shared custody of his daughter, age 5, and son, 6.
His wife, he said, is reconsidering their former marriage. "We might get
back together," he said.

Gouveia has some practical advice for homeowners: "Lock everything up. Don't
make it easy."