People who live east of Auburn Way North to Green River and their fellow townsmen and townswomen on Lea Hill made more fireworks calls to Auburn Police between 11 a.m., July 4 and 8 a.m., July 5 than people in any area of the city.
To translate that into police-ese, District 2 — that is, the area east of Auburn Way to the Green River — placed 36 calls, whereas District 3 — a.k.a. Lea Hill — made 29.
Those were among the findings in the Auburn Police Department’s “2014 Fireworks After Action” report, which Assistant Police Chief Bill Pierson presented Monday afternoon to the three members of the Municipal Service Committee at City Hall.
“It — the report — just kind of recaps some of our objectives from last year and some things we did to address those objectives this year,” Pierson said. “One of our objectives was to improve communications and collaborative efforts in all areas of working with the Tribe to have them understand some of the complaints and issues we deal with off the reservation,” Pierson said, noting issues like traffic concerns and conduct at the stands.
“Our perspective this year is this is some of the best cooperation we’ve seen from the group up there,” Pierson said.
Here are a few facts gleaned from the report:
• Between those calls were “on-view” by officer and those that residents called in, there were 128 total fireworks-related calls made to police.
• The highest concentration of complaints was in the Forest Villa neighborhood and on Lea Hill south of Southeast 320th.
• Other calls by district: District 1, roughly Highway 18 to 277th, bounded by Auburn Way and 51st Avenue, 11 calls; District 4, roughly C Street South and 15th Street Southwest, 12 calls; District 5, Lakeland Hills, 16; District 6, Auburn Way South to Muckleshoot Reservation and east city limits, 24 calls.
• Ten officers and one sergeant were assigned to cover the 1, 2 and 3 districts, whereas eight officers and one sergeant were assigned to cover the 4, 5 and 6 districts.
• During the fireworks emphasis from June 4 to July 5 — excluding July 4 — 18 police officers worked a total of 108 hours.
• Six officers and one sergeant covered the fireworks stands to provide crowd control and a police presence in the discharge area and stands.
• One significant injury was reported at the stands, involving a 13-year-old who sustained serious hand injuries when a firework detonated while the teen was holding it.
• One extremely drunk person was transported to the hospital after police determined that the amount of liquor sloshing about in his system posed a danger to himself.
• During the evening of July 4, emphasis officers arrested nine people during fireworks-related contacts.
• The peak activity hours in the neighborhoods between July 4 and 5 were between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.
• Most of the stands on the reservation were sold out and closed by midnight, although four stands were open until 1:30 a.m. The discharge area and the upper parking lot were closed at 2 a.m. without incident.
