LAKEPORT — During an after action report to the Lakeport City Council that looked back on the Fourth of July event earlier this year at Library Park to which more than 1,000 people came, Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen reflected on illegal firework use in the city. In response to Rasmussen’s comments that felony charges are possible in some cases, Council Member Kenneth Parlet raised concerns that punishing illegal fireworks use to such an extent might deter tourism around Independence Day, resulting in economic losses for the city.
Parlet said that “To me, to go down and arrest a bunch of tourists and make them felons—I’d much rather say, ‘please, don’t bring your {fireworks}.'” He recommended leaning on preemptive warnings to those coming in with illegal fireworks urging them to leave the contraband behind.
Rasmussen said that his policy is to be “aggressive” on illegal fireworks by implementing a “no tolerance” policy, and that he would like to expand enforcement of firework laws by putting together a “special unit” of undercover cops in unmarked vehicles who would work together with an arson investigator and “make some arrests.”
Mayor Mireya Turner stated that she has “no problem with arresting and pushing for a felony conviction on anybody who comes into our city with a complete disregard for the safety of the people who live here and the homes that are already here.”
On one hand, Rasmussen said the department had handled a relatively low volume of calls this year for service in the park itself. This he attributed to heavy police presence in that area. “We deployed a large number of resources to the park during that day to make it as safe and problem-free as possible,” Rasmussen said. During the event, the LPD only had to remove one person for being under the influence and handled a call for one lost child according to Rasmussen.
Despite the relatively controlled atmosphere around Library Park, officers responded to numerous firework-related calls elsewhere in the city. “There were a lot of fireworks going off all over town,” Rasmussen said. “One of the big areas is on 11th Street near Safeway.” Rasmussen added that that he was thankful there were no fires started by illegal fireworks this year.
Although there were fewer calls than in other years, the usage of illegal fireworks in Lakeport is a difficult issue to resolve, and law enforcement officials are looking for new ways to eliminate their use.
“It’s gotten so bad in certain areas and in other cities they have implemented new technologies to help deal with the issue,” Rasmussen said.
This year some areas like the Brunos parking lot were roped off to restrict firework use. Although some parking lots might have cameras to spot those who could have used illegal fireworks, it is also too dark to be able to make out who those people might be.
He also added that there was an increase in media coverage this year to inform the public about firework safety and illegal firework usage. Nine articles were released by the department in a time span of 13 days prior to the Fourth of July, Rasmussen said. According to Rasmussen, these posts reached about 42,000 people and got around 200 shares with almost 150 comments on each post.
Earlier this year, the city looked at enacting a potential ban for the selling of safe and sane fireworks within city limits.
Lakeport Mayor Mireya Turner said this became a topic of discussion because of the county having multiple fires in the past few years. Turner and other city staff members have received multiple messages and phone calls to protest fireworks sales. However, at a Lakeport City Council meeting in July, numerous members of the public raised concerns that cutting private firework sales would result in local nonprofit and community organizations like the Channel Cats swim team being unable to operate.
Although the council decided, in response to those concerns, not to put the issue on the November ballot, officials noted the city is still looking to keep its citizens safe from any illegal fireworks.
— Aidan Freeman contributed to this report.
