BIG BANG: Police in Scarborough, SoPo see increase in calls related to fireworks

REGION — Just in time for the July 4 holiday, business is booming in Scarborough at two new fireworks stores, but local police are not exactly celebrating.

That’s because emergency calls to complain about fireworks have risen dramatically since the June 16 opening of Atlas Fireworks on Route 1 and Phantom Fireworks, in the Cabela’s Plaza, June 19.

According to Scarborough Detective-Sgt. Rick Rouse, his department fielded 35 calls about fireworks noise in the seven days following Phantom’s first day of business, up from 11 for all of 2012 prior to that. South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins, who said his officers have fielded 32 complaints since June 17, almost as much in one week than the previous three months, is now employing the use of undercover officers to catch fireworks scofflaws.

“We’ve seen a significant uptick in calls,” Googins said. “We’re not just getting phone calls, we’ve had reports on our tip line, and emails from people who are upset. A number of them have been reported to us as gun shots, which ratchets up our whole level of response, but the disposition of those calls all turned out to be fireworks.”

Now, if officers can chase down any of those calls fast enough to catch someone with a finger on the fuse, they’ll be only too happy to issue a summons.

The problem, police say, is that while Maine legalized so-called “consumer fireworks” effective Jan. 1, municipalities had a local option, which many chose to enact. In both South Portland and Cape Elizabeth, the sale and use of fireworks was banned with the passage of local ordinances last fall. And, although fireworks sales are allowed in Scarborough, use is restricted to just five days per year – Jan. 1, July 3-5, and Dec. 31.

“So, even though sales are allowed, people are not allowed to use them, but clearly they’re doing so anyway,” said Rouse. “It’s a huge issue for us.”

It’s been enough of an issue that this week the Scarborough Police Department amended its reporting system to give fireworks calls their own category. Previously, those complaints were filed under “Disturbances,” said Rouse. However, intimating what a political hot potato the fireworks issue is statewide – many residents, including some Scarborough town councilors, lay blame on Gov. Paul LePage and the Republican-controlled Legislature for disturbing the peace – Rouse said the reporting change was made partly because of the number of requests for fireworks-related data.

It sometimes seems, said Rouse, that there are as many people asking how many complaints have been filed as there are actually filing complaints.

But Rouse, Googins and Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams all agree that chasing down fireworks complaints is a low priority, mostly because it’s so hard to actually catch someone in the act of lighting one off.

“By the time you get there, they’re gone,” said Googins.

Part of the problem, he added, is too few officers for too many calls.

“This last Friday evening, we had a resident who ended up texting me to say they witnessed somebody throwing firecrackers,” Googins told to city councilors at a workshop session on Monday. “This person was actually out following these individuals and he wanted to know where the police were, because he had called the police and they weren’t coming.

“Well, we didn’t come for quite a while, I want to say 45 or 60 minutes,” said Googins. “The reason was, the officers were all tied up on matters that were of a higher priority on fireworks. Had that call been a priority crime, we would have invoked mutual aid from Cape or Scarborough or Portland, but we can’t do that for routine calls like discharging fireworks.”

So far, local police departments say they’ve taken a fairly light hand when they are actually able to catch an offender.

“It seems most people are fairly familiar with the Maine law, but are not up to speed on the local ordinance, or at least that’s what they claim,” Rouse said.

Atlas owner Stephen Pelkey said his shop keeps a list, provided by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, of local rules in every Maine community. Pelkey said “a dozen” cars were parked in his lot waiting for him to unlock the doors on opening day, and business has remained brisk ever since, with average sales of $150 per customer. Still, busy as his staff is, Pelkey claims they have taken time to advise each customer on fireworks restrictions, if any, in their communities. Phantom Fireworks owner Jarred Falls said his employees also are passing along that information.

Even so, Rouse said Scarborough police have adopted an “educational approach,” even in neighborhoods where complaints are clustered, such as Holmes Road, Gorham Road and Mitchell Hill Road.

“I think it’s been mostly warnings that have been handed out, along with information about the local ordinance,” he said

Cape Elizabeth has not seen the same sort of increase. There have only been six complaints about fireworks filed there since June 1, about the same as last year’s lead-up to Independence Day. However, Williams, the police chief, said he expects to take the same educating-the-public approach when the time comes.

But Googins, in South Portland, said the time has come to take a more punitive approach.

“I’m done with the education,” he said. “It’s out there. It’s been in the newspapers, we have signs up in the community. People know the law. If we can issue a summons, we will.”

The use of fireworks in Cape Elizabeth and South Portland and can draw initial fines of $200-$400, with subsequent offenses running $300-$600 per violation. Selling fireworks in either community will net a fine of $500 for a first offense and “not less than $1,000” for repeated sales.

In Scarborough, fines for discharging fireworks on unapproved days can run from $100 to $500, while a “willful violation” after a warning from police can draw a $10,000 penalty.

With complaints appearing to cluster in the Redbank and Ferry Village neighborhoods, Googins has authorized undercover patrols, despite the cost to his overtime budget.

“You can’t sneak up on people in a cruiser,” he said. “So, we’ve put officers in plain cloths, in an unmarked vehicle, to sit in an area where we’ve had a complaint of fireworks.”

It can be tough to identify the likely areas to patrol, admitted Googins, as most complainants have trouble narrowing down a point of origin for the series of small explosions that typify an illegal fireworks demonstration. Still, he said, a summons was issued Friday by plain-clothed officers to a person who was brazen enough to try for a second round of noisemaking after an initial warning.

“I think we’re getting to the point where we may start to issue some disorderly conduct summonses as well,” said Rouse. “I think the newness of it all is part of what’s fueled the increase in activity. I don’t know if it’ll ever quit down without a few summonses and fines. Hopefully, that will solve the problem.”