Although crime is down in South Maui, Maui County Police Chief Gary Yabuta says that the community has grown so much that the demand for police service there is now greater than in West Maui.

"Kihei has grown to the point where the calls actually exceed Lahaina," Yabuta said during a police town hall meeting last week at the Kihei Community Center.

Through September, Yabuta said police received 12,006 calls for service in the Kihei Patrol District, which stretches from the Ma'alaea side of the pali to Makena. Twenty-one percent of the calls were for non-criminal cases.

In the six months ending Sept. 30, the largest number of calls came from Kalama Park with 173, followed by Kihei Villages with 112, Southpointe with 97 and Kihei Kai Condominiums with 86. The average police response time for emergency and priority calls was six minutes and 26 seconds.

Yabuta said work is proceeding on plans for a permanent Kihei Police Station to accommodate 54 officers who now operate from a crowded storefront next to Foodland.