Police are expanding an ongoing initiative to make street crossings safer, sending in less-conspicuous plainclothes officers to cite pedestrians and motorists who violate road rules.

"We want people to change their behavior, not just change when a policeman is around," said Lt. Jerry Wojcik, coordinator of the Honolulu Police Department's pedestrian safety campaign task force. "Pedestrians should be looking at traffic first, not for a policeman."

The nonuniformed officers will be assigned to different locations in Honolulu as soon as today, he said.

Plainclothes officers will be monitoring streets and crosswalks, primarily during daylight hours, and will show their badge and identification before issuing citations, the lieutenant said. A uniformed officer in a car will be stationed nearby watching motorists.

The move is the latest phase of a push that began in February. At first, the department conducted a public education campaign, then officers began issuing citations.

SPEEDING, JAYWALKING

There hasn't been a pedestrian fatality on O'ahu since HPD began heavily enforcing the pedestrian laws March 6. Before that date, pedestrians accounted for 10 of 18 fatalities on the island.

As of Tuesday, the task force had issued 2,207 citations — 1,180 to motorists and 1,027 to pedestrians — with speeding (809) and jaywalking (833) accounting for nearly three-quarters of the total violations, according to Wojcik.

Fines for pedestrians range from $70 to $80, and for motorists, $97 to $107, depending on the violation.

"We used to have three or four pedestrian accidents a day and, knock on wood, we now have one or two a day and on some days, none at all," Wojcik said.

'IT'S A GOOD IDEA'

During a news conference yesterday, department spokesman Capt. Frank Fujii, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, sat incognito at a bus stop on Alapa'i Street watching for violations. At the end of the news conference, Wojcik told reporters that a non-uniformed police officer had been watching pedestrians the whole time.

Pedestrians in the vicinity yesterday said they supported the move.

"It's OK," Hazel DePonte said, adding that she did not think police were trying to deceive anyone. "I think we all should know the difference between right and wrong."

Marie Louise Bonet said: "It's a good idea. I support it if it makes streets safer."

The past month's citation numbers clearly indicate that negligence is on the part of both pedestrians and motorists, Wojcik said.

"They both blame each other but the numbers show there's negligence on both parties," he said. "Motorists need to slow down, stop before turning right on red, yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, and don't enter an intersection until you are sure you can exit all the way before the light changes.

"Pedestrians need to learn to use the crosswalks, yield to vehicles before crossing, and learn the pedestrian signals," he added. "Walk when it's white but if the red hand is flashing, it means you have time to cross if you are already in the crosswalk, but otherwise not to start crossing."

The basic problem is people trying to save minutes.

"This is a risk-and-reward society and it's not worth hitting someone to get someplace two minutes earlier," he said. "For pedestrians, we say take the two minutes to walk over to the crosswalk."

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.