Home fireworks are a right and part of the country’s festivities, several Elgin residents told officers during Fourth of July celebrations, said Elgin Chief of Police Jeff Swoboda.
But Swoboda also heard from others, such as military veterans and pet owners, saying the loud sounds are an unwelcome aggravation — particularly during sleeping hours.
Whether people are pro- or anti-fireworks depends on the time of day, he said.
“Even though they are against the law, most people don’t have an issue with fireworks that are generally smaller like bottle rockets and firecrackers,” Swoboda said following the Fourth of July holiday.
“However most people do have an issue with the extremely loud ones and the time of day they are detonated,” he said.
The department had a detail of four officers — two on the west side and two on the east side — working resident complaints for fireworks during the holiday weekend. The special assignment started Friday night and ended Tuesday. The officers worked from 7:45 p.m. to 1:45 a.m. during those nights, warning residents, writing citations, and confiscating fireworks.
Those hours were based on when the most complaints come in, Swoboda said.
“The later it gets and once we are past July 4th people’s tolerance for fireworks goes way down. And, if they have a dog that doesn’t do well with fireworks, they have zero tolerance,” Swoboda said.
The officers handed out 125 citation for illegal fireworks this year. The department had 383 calls from residents complaining about fireworks, in addition to the thousands of other calls Elgin officers handle each day, he said.
Those ticketed for illegal fireworks are looking at fines from $100 to $750 from the city — depending on whether they had been ticketed before, Swoboda said.
The number of citations were up this year — just 79 citations were written last year. Complaints were also up about 10 percent, Swoboda said.
Whether the department announcing its 2017 crack down on fireworks made any difference to whether residents chose to shoot off fireworks in their neighborhood is another matter, he added.
“Some residents thought it was worse this year, some thought it was better,” he said. He had heard many say the number of fireworks shot off in Elgin seemed higher in the days leading up to the Fourth, with fewer reported Tuesday night.
No injuries were reported in Elgin this year, he said.
The police department tried to warn residents ahead of time, Swoboda said.
The department used it’s community notification software to “robocall” about 60,000 homes to inform them of the crackdown this year, he noted. In addition, electronic signs were erected in some neighborhoods to remind residents home fireworks are illegal.
Warnings aside, the Fourth of July holiday was “busy,” Swoboda said.
Officers confiscated several boxes full of fireworks. So many were taken in that the department is considering weighing what is collected each year to help quantify how many fireworks are collected, Swoboda said
All the confiscated explosives are given to the Kane County Bomb Squad for disposal.
“There were a lot of fireworks,” Swoboda said. “We try to get them out of here as quick as we can.”
Swoboda said he was proud of how officers handled things this year and they did their best to curb illegal fireworks use.
“Anyone who wants to express disappointment with the department about fireworks (enforcement) is completely misguided in their desire to blame,” he said.
Often, when officers pulled up to a home where fireworks were being used, it wasn’t kids using them unsupervised, but adults and families having their own celebrations, he said.
A few of those families were also put on notice if Elgin officers had cited them or warned them — without a ticket — they would be seeing higher fines. “We had a letter — we know we cited you, we will be watching you and you are on notice,” Swoboda said.
It’s the bigger — almost commercial-sized mortars — or the loud, M80-style fireworks that generate complaints, he said.
“If you have a dog going crazy, you are more sensitive to it,” he said.
Janelle Walker is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
