01-21-2020 - AGENDA ITEM 11 FOURTH OF JULY ENFORCEMENT11/16/2020
Print Staff Report
AGENDA ITEM NO. 11
AGENDA STAFF REPORT
City of West Covina I Office of the City Manager
DATE:
January 21, 2020
TO:
Mayor and City Council
FROM:
David Carmany
City Manager
SUBJECT:
FOURTH OF JULY ENFORCEMENT
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council approve the 4th of July enforcement and deployment plan.
BACKGROUND:
Mayor Pro Tern Letty Lopez-Viado has requested from the Police and Fire Departments an update and outline
for the Enforcement operations related to the City's 2020 4th of July weekend activities. Over the past several
years, public safety has responded on average to approximately 225 additional calls for service with respect to
illegal firework activity in the City.
The goal for this year's 4th of July enforcement is to saturate the public with information regarding the use of
both dangerous and safe -and -sane fireworks coupled with rigorous enforcement action leading up to, during,
and after the 4th of July holiday event.
DISCUSSION:
The focus for enforcement will be on July 3rd and 4th. The report will consist of the following actions:
Planning, Advertisement, Deployment, Enforcement and After Action report.
A. Planning
1. Police and Fire Management will develop timelines and a collaborative strategy for the
prevention, response, hazard mitigation, enforcement and disposition of illegal fireworks for the
4th of July holiday.
2. Police and Fire Management will reduce these plans and strategy onto the appropriate ICS Forms
(ICS201, et seq.) and distribute the plans to all affected personnel during the incident briefing. An
Incident Action Plan (IAP) will be developed by the unified command team.
B. Advertisement and Education
1. The Police Department will partner with other City Departments to display two banners;
Amar/Azusa and Glendora/West Covina Pkwy, advising citizens that no fireworks are permitted in
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West Covina City (April/May deployment).
2. Repeat Public Service Announcement (PSA) will be broadcast via all current social media
platforms including Nixle, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These notifications should be sent
weekly in the 8 weeks preceding the July 4th Holiday. In addition, similar public notification
should appear in the Discover Newsletter (May/June deployment).
3. City mobile message boards will be deployed to varying conspicuous locations with high vehicle
traffic to educate motorists on the firework prohibition (2 weeks prior to the holiday).
C. Deployment
1. A Unified Command will be deployed with the Police and Fire Departments, during each day of
operations.
2. Police and Fire personnel will hold a joint incident briefing and discuss responsibilities, expectations
and strategies each day of operations.
3. The Police and Fire Department will deploy additional resources to include:
• Four 3-person units consisting of 2-police officers and 1-firefighter (as personnel
availability allows).
• One additional Public Safety Dispatcher, exclusively dedicated to the efficient and timely
broadcasting of firework related calls.
• One dedicated police field supervisor whose sole responsibility is to direct the activities of
the involved personnel, manage call volume, and ensure timely service delivery.
4. Regularly scheduled Patrol Officers will generally focus on other calls for service but should be used
when available to support firework call management to avoid response delays.
5. Regularly scheduled Firefighters will focus on other calls for service but when available can enforce
illegal fireworks ordinances.
6. Fire Station #2 will be the host location for all confiscated fireworks and stage of fireworks. The Fire
Department will be responsible for State Fire Marshall notification and the disposition of any seized
fireworks.
7. Any actual or suspected explosives located will be disposed of through departments standard
operating procedures.
D. Enforcement
1. The Police and Fire Enforcement teams dedicated to enforcing will use Federal, State and Local laws
during city canvasing and when responding to fireworks -related calls for service to proactively enforce
the law.
2. Absent a bona fide public safety demand to the contrary, assigned personnel shall refrain from other
enforcement activities.
E. After Action Report
An After Action Report (AAR) will be generated by the Police and Fire Departments directed to the
City Manager regarding the deployments efforts. This AAR shall be used in the preparation of the July
4, 2021 event planning.
Prepared by: Richard Bell, Chief of Police
Fiscal Impact
FISCAL IMPACT:
The deployment of 4 Firefighters, 8 Police Officers, 1 Police Sergeant, and 1 dedicated Public Safety
Dispatcher for fireworks related calls will cost approximately $16,819.80. This will cover two 10-hour shifts
from 4pm to tam for deployment on July 3rd and July 4th.
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CITY Protect Public Safety
COUNCIL
GOALS &
OBJECTIVES:
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