HOLLISTER, CALIFORNIA – July 5, 2022, Police personnel responded to several fireworks related calls over the holiday weekend.
Over the holiday weekend, the Hollister Police Department and of its divisions participated in a concentrated effort to locate illegal fireworks and issue citations to those residents and visitors who were lighting them. The Hollister Municipal Code states that each violation of the code will involve a $1,000 fine. The laws of the State of California only allow for certain types of City of Hollister employees to participate in enforcing the municipal code. Some on that list are Hollister Police Department officers, Hollister Animal Control officers, and Hollister Code Enforcement officers.
Each night, several personnel from each of our divisions worked overtime shifts in unmarked police cars to patrol the city and respond to calls. For safety reasons, we placed 2 officers in each car. We also provided 1 police sergeant who oversaw all of the personnel involved in the mission.
For the period from July 1st to July 5th, Santa Cruz Regional 9-1-1 generated 201 calls regarding hazardous fireworks within the City of Hollister. There were 9 calls on July 1st, 25 calls on July 2nd, 35 calls on July 3rd, and 132 calls on July 4th. Many of those calls were general calls in which the caller could only report that hazardous fireworks were heard or seen in the area. Some of those calls with just a general report of fireworks in the area were not dispatched to the officers, because the officers were already in the area trying to catch the perpetrators.
In some instances, due to the sheer volume of firework activity, our response to those calls was delayed as we were conducting firework investigations viewed by the officers. Many of those calls were generated by our officers, who were patrolling and found subjects lighting aerial or “mortar” style fireworks. In total, we issued 44 citations to offenders during that time period. In 2021, we received a total of 160 calls for service and issued 31 citations.
At one point, we committed significant resources to assist with evacuations at the scene of a vegetation fire that threatened homes, and had to pull Animal Control resources from our July 4th fireworks operation to handle a multitude of animal complaints that we received. At a certain point in the night, we had the regular patrol team also citing violators in addition to their regular patrol duties; which is harder to do in a marked patrol car.
The department wants to thank all of our residents who celebrated in a safe & sane manner. We heard from so many residents with legitimate complaints about the aerial bombardment, the excessive noise & dangerous explosions. Of all the police departments dispatched by SCR911, only one other agency had more calls about fireworks than Hollister (4 more) & all the other departments had significantly less calls.
For next year, this department is committed to once again look into increasing fines where possible, adding to the number of police staff that can be used to enforce the ordinance and seek other city employees from other departments to assist.
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Prepared by: E. Olson, Captain
Approved by: C. Reynoso, Chief
