Thank you Chief Augustin,

As a PD follow up please accept the following…

 

 

Enforcement Period 7/1/2024 through 7/7/2024

Calls for service:                218

Citations:                             10

 

Enforcement Period: 6/17/2024 through 6/30/2024

Calls for service:               55

Citations:                             1

 

Total lbs. of confiscation 7/4:         30 lbs.

Total lbs. overall: 6/1-7/3                50 lbs.

 

Fires:     1

Palm tree at Glen and Washington

 

Injuries related to Fireworks:     0

 

On the calls for service it is exceedingly difficult to catch violators in the act. The law requires we see the violation in order to arrest or cite, or there has to be a willing complainant willing to prosecute. Unless we have these components the elements for probable cause are not met. We do , however document all contacts for follow up. All of our calls for service were either anonymous or the R/P was unwilling to make a private persons arrest.

 

Regarding number 3…

Our reserve police officers do have the authority to cite as any regular officer does. They have been factored in yo our enforcement efforts.

 

Regarding numbers 4 & 5…

There may be some traction to  rewards for info leading to arrest and conviction but this will typically only work in felony cases.  We would be cautioned not to create a bounty for arrests that require private persons to make the arrest as in misdemeanor cases. Which leads to the inability for resident/witness issued citations as there is no allowance in the law for that, outside private persons arrest procedures

 

We will continue to strive for improvement in our education, engineering, and enforcement endeavors.  One of those high on our list is the use of drones with real time crime capabilities. We hope to move to operational technology by next year.

 

Please contact me with any other questions or concerns.

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These are the response so far:

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin

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Thank you for the email, but before I address it, I want to express my team’s gratitude for the wonderful email you sent last week complimenting them on the decreased frequency of illegal fireworks this year as opposed to previous years. 

Well, as Murphy’s Law would have it, just five minutes before you sent your email from a resident complaining about how poorly we did, I received a very nice email from a resident in Bungalow Heaven complimenting us for our incredible work and that he was pleasantly surprised that there were so few fireworks this year.   In my professional opinion, this year was by far the best in my four years as your Fire Chief.  This is due to the deliberate work by your PPD and PFD.  Leading up to the fourth, there was very little fireworks until after July 1st.  

 

Yesterday was very busy for both PPD and PFD, demonstrating the fact that there will always be work to do.  I think it is extremely important to remind everyone that in addition to working normal assigned job duties on July 4th, many of our employees were force hired to work in order to ensure there was adequate staffing at the Rose Bowl for a safe and fun event.  Our employees know that this is just part of the job when you work for PPD or PFD.  Regardless, the work that PPD and PFD did yesterday at a major soccer event was impressive to say the least.

 

I would like to address your recommendations to the best of my ability.

 

1. Both PPD and PFD have been exploring adding an unmanned aircraft system (UAS).  The benefits are far more than just for illegal fireworks.  From the Fire side, having this program can provide incredible intel for both structure and brush fires.  There would be significant startup costs for this program, as well as a need to hire additional staff for PFD to add this additional level of service.

2. I cannot speak for Code Enforcement, but I can address Fire Inspectors.  As you are aware, we have Arson Task Force personnel working nightly leading up to the fourth.  Yesterday, we had nearly double the amount of personnel on duty from a normal day.  That included every Fire Inspector.  The primary responsibility of the over 40 extra PFD personnel was ensuring a safe event at the Rose Bowl.  I cannot confirm the exact number of additional law enforcement personnel, but it was probably double or triple that amount.  In addition to the 60,000 in attendance, there were thousands of additional fans tailgating in the area.  It is important to highlight that our crews worked incredibly hard to ensure that everyone had a good time and left safely.  

After the soccer game concluded, my entire Executive team and members of Command staff transitioned to patrolling the streets of Pasadena to assist with additional call demand and enforcement of illegal fireworks. 

3. Citations were challenging again last night.  As we have previously discussed, in order to hand out a citation, we either have to witness the illegal activity or have someone willing to confirm that they witnessed it.  Frequently, we arrive in the area and nobody is in the area any longer.  When we question the neighbors, they tell us they didn’t see anything.

4. Chief Harris and his team will be able to speak on number four, as they have been researching innovative ideas that other cities have tried.

5. We would be greatly appreciative of residents assisting us.  The best things they could do is call when they see something and confirm what they witnessed when we arrive.  Unfortunately, most residents want to remain anonymous.

 

I hope that this information is helpful.  My team and I are committed to continuing to make Pasadena safer and eradicate illegal fireworks.

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Chad Augustin

Fire Chief

Pasadena Fire Department

caugustin@cityofpasadena.net