HONOLULU -- The Honolulu Police Department is devoting a lot of manpower to help the Secret Service with security while President Barack Obama vacations in the islands. One side effect that motorists may have noticed is that there are fewer police speed traps on highways and freeways while Obama is in town.

Top police officials told KITV that most of HPD's solo bike officers, who carry out the bulk of speeding enforcement on Oahu, have been temporarily assigned to presidential security and motorcade detail.

HPD's solo bikers usually help stranded motorists during the morning and evening rush hours and hand out speeding tickets during the midday and evenings.

However, this week, most police motorcycle officers are assigned to guard the president and escort his motorcades around the island, top police officials said.

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Drivers KITV spoke with said they have noticed fewer police at the normal speed traps this week.

"If I really and truly thought that there were less cops, I would try to get away with maybe, you know, going a bit quicker," motorist Kevin Prough said.

"[I have] no complaints with that," said Hawaii Kai resident Mike McKay.

McKay said he's noticed fewer police on the roads giving speeding tickets since Obama arrived on Christmas Eve.

"That's actually a good thing. Maybe Obama should come here more often," McKay said. "I'd get to work quicker."

Others haven't noticed a difference in speed enforcement.

"I haven't really noticed," one woman said.

Officers are still giving speeding tickets while the president is in town, but they are doing it from police cars instead of motorcycles, HPD said. Patrol officers are also on the lookout for speeding and dangerous drivers as well, HPD said.

"I would be concerned about the crime, you know, that maybe somebody would think 'oh, the cops are tied up, so I can get away with something that maybe normally they wouldn't," said Prough.

HPD said patrol officers are not being pulled from districts around the island for presidential security so those officers are still available to respond to robberies, burglaries, fights and other cases as needed.

Special units like the Specialized Services Division -- also known as SWAT -- and Crime Reduction Units are providing the bulk of the staffing for presidential security.

They have a command post setup at Kainalu Elementary School just a few blocks away from the Obama family's Kailua Beach vacation compound.

The police department said it's absorbing the cost of presidential security during the 10-day visit. Obama's holiday vacation in Hawaii last year cost police $107,000 in extra salary expenses.