Residents on Olomea, Kohou and Kokea streets in Kalihi have complained to police about suspected criminal activity involving a large group of people loitering on, around or under a bridge near the H-1 Freeway's eastbound Vineyard Boulevard exit.

In response, police yesterday conducted the latest in a series of sweeps of the area, telling 16 people under the Olomea Street bridge to leave, and removing trash and furniture from the area.

Police made no arrests during the 6 a.m. sweep but warned the 16 people about suspected criminal activity, such as gambling.

Paul Dela Cruz, who lives on Kohou Street, said there's "plenty of action" late at night and into the early-morning hours involving at least a dozen people. He said he worries about the potential for violence, and the safety of his family.

"What if one day one of them snaps and starts shooting?" Dela Cruz asked. "We all going be in danger.

"They here all day and late — 1, 2, 3 in the morning. They not doing nothing. They don't live around here, so what reason they got to be here?"

Dela Cruz said the neighborhood blames the group for much of the thefts, trash and drug dealing in the area. People steal bicycles and clothes stored or hung outside homes, vandalize parked cars and deal narcotics on the mauka side of the Olomea Street bridge, he said.

Parts of Kalihi and Kalihi Valley are a designated Weed & Seed district, a high-crime area that receives special attention from police. On May 5, police targeted mobile drug dealing in the area, capping an investigation of several months by arresting a suspected street dealer and three others. Jinna Naleieha, 37, was charged with trafficking crystal methamphetamine from a van.

Maj. Kurt Kendro, commander of the Kalihi patrol district, said police are addressing complaints of street drug trafficking, arguments resulting from drug dealing at night and complaints from businesses of dealers approaching their customers in an intimidating manner to buy drugs.

"We want (the dealers) to know the community knows about it and can call us," Kendro said, adding that police will keep applying pressure.

Residents, however, are frustrated because despite the police efforts, the activity continues.

"Look, they're back already," Dela Cruz said yesterday, pointing to a couple of people headed under the bridge after the morning sweep.

Son Yoon, an Olomea Street resident, said his dog barks late at night as people walking to the bridge stop to sit on his front wall.

"Lots of drugs, every time come at night, and in the daytime, they come and take things like tennis shoes," Yoon said. "After police go, they come back. Same thing going on four, five years. I don't know how come they can stay all the time. Somebody got to do something."

Following the sweep yesterday, police notified the state Department of Transportation about piles of trash that had accumulated under the freeway-side bridge. The trash included piles of furniture, televisions, reclining chairs and discarded clothing.

Wooden rafters had been rigged with carpeting under the highway to run gambling games, police said, adding that the trash presents a significant public safety problem. "Kalihi is a low-lying area, and when there is heavy rainfall like we had in March, the trash is going to cause problems," Kalihi police Capt. Moana Heu said.

DOT crews cleaned up about half of the trash yesterday and were planning to return today with more equipment to pull out bulkier items.

But by mid-afternoon yesterday, the leftover trash that was in the dry stream bed in the morning was floating in water as the tide came in.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.