The East Palo Alto Police Department deployed 27 officers to respond to fireworks on July 4. By the time their shift was over, officers had recovered at least two guns, made three arrests and seized a large quantity of fireworks, officials said this week.
From 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., officers responded to 135 incidents. While the department didn’t give an exact count of the fireworks seized, boxes of them could be seen piled high across an office table in an image released by the city.
“I am incredibly proud of the work of our brave men and women who served our city that night,” East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio Lopez said. “Instead of taking well-deserved time off with their families, they decided to spend their holidays making our streets safer.”
Fireworks weren’t the only incidents that prompted a police response. During the July 4 night shift, officers responded to a reported carjacking and a reported robbery, as well as apprehended a suspect on suspicion of sexual assault.
That arrest led to police seizing two pistols and high-capacity magazines, as well as heroin and amphetamines totaling roughly $250,000 in value, the city said.
“Despite the successes of our officers last Thursday, we know more can be done,” Lopez said.
The East Palo Alto seizures come as many Bay Area cities try to crack down on illegal fireworks, which are often responsible for house and brush fires. Heightened temperatures on July 4 made the region particularly susceptible to such fires, according to officials.
“The dry grass vegetation across the state coupled with triple-digit temperatures and the wind is the perfect recipe for a disaster,” California State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant said at a July 2 briefing. “Now when you add fireworks, whether they’re improperly used ‘safe and sane’ or whether they’re illegal fireworks, they can potentially create a catastrophic fire.”
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