HONOLULU, Posted 9:24 p.m. HST December 27, 2000 -- The U.S. Army is set to install video surveillance cameras at the Waianae Army Recreation Facility, two-and-a-half years after the violent death of pilot John Latchum.
The cameras are part of an effort to improve security at the facility, which also includes new lighting and phones in every cabin. The Army said the seven new cameras should be running in a month or two.
But Latchum's widow, Wendy, said all the improvements came too late for her family.
"We would've never stayed there we had no idea that kind of crime was going on out there," Latchum said. "We were on a family vacation we would never had put our family in any kind of harm."
Prosecutors claimed John Latchum was killed during a botched burglary attempt on his cabin.
The Army admitted to KITV4 News that it knew about other burglaries at the Waianae facility. One was reported in the same cabin where Latchum was shot less than a month before his death.
According to the Army, 52 criminal incidents happened at the facility in 1997, roughly one a week. In 1998, the year in which Latchum was killed, the Army said 62 incidents were reported.
However, the Army told KITV4 News that only 16 incidents were reported at the recreation center in the first half of 1999.
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