Each year as we celebrate our nation’s independence, we experience problems within our community with fireworks. All fireworks are illegal in the city. Numerous people are affected by the fireworks and the Santa Paula Police Department takes the concerns very seriously. Many citizens who light illegal fireworks off don’t understand or acknowledge the dangers people face of injury and or death. Numerous people are severely injured or killed each year due to illegal fireworks. In addition, many members of our community are affected by fireworks including our elderly population as well as our military veterans who are suffering from PTSD as a result of protecting our nation. Animals are also affected by the sounds of fireworks. To combat the illegal fireworks we took several measures this year.
In preparation for the 4th of July, extra officers were assigned to each night shift to help patrol for fireworks and handle the calls which came in. Over the course of July 3rd through July 5th the Santa Paula Police Dispatch Center received a total of 743 calls. Officers responded to 441 calls for service and documented each of them. 198 of these calls were for fireworks.
Our officers proactively patrolled areas where fireworks have been reported and responded to the fireworks calls as they came in. This was in addition to responding to regular calls for service. On July 4th, we staffed the department with 7 additional officers to handle the calls for service and conduct firework enforcement. Over the weekend 7 arrests were made for firework related activities and 9 citations were issued for individuals caught setting off fireworks. Thank you to our community for calling in the fireworks and giving us specifics so that we could follow up. We greatly appreciate your support.
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