Police: Burglars looking for a quick win are targeting businesses with lock boxes

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Honolulu Crimestoppers is seeing an uptick in business burglaries — as more suspects target lock boxes.

Sgt. Chris Kim said last week, there were nine break-ins involving businesses with lock boxes in the town area.

“That’s the common thing that we’re seeing is that people either walking by or driving by and looking for that lock box hanging outside the business door,” said Kim.

Tara Bendell, general manager of Dive Oahu, said their storage shack at Kewalo Basin was burglarized over the weekend. Surveillance cameras captured a black SUV driving through Kewalo Basin early Sunday morning.

That same SUV is seen outside their kiosk with two doors open.

One person is seen holding a bolt cutter and enters the car with another person.

“They came back a half an hour after they broke into ... and got the keys, and they basically cleaned us out.”

Their Ring camera captured a snapshot of one of the burglars entering their storage shack.

The suspects got away with ten scuba scooters, GoPros, and dive lights valued at about $8,000. “We weren’t the only ones hit,” said Bendell. “They went down and hit a couple of the other vendors as well.”

“You know, we’re kind of a family down here, so it affected all of us.” Bendell said this is the fourth time their business has been broken into in two years.

They’re offering a $2,000 reward for help getting the gear back.

If you have any information, call Crimestoppers.

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