BATTLE CREEK, MI (AP) - Complaints about fireworks have been increasing in Battle Creek, but police say enforcement is difficult.
The use of fireworks is restricted by Michigan law and Battle Creek’s fireworks ordinance, which allows people to use fireworks in the city only on certain dates.
Battle Creek police Chief Jim Blocker says he understands residents’ frustration, but fireworks are not a top priority for officers when they are dealing with crimes against people and property. He says when police officers are able to handle fireworks complaints, they have difficulty finding the violators.
People who complain and who might have specific information don’t want to be contacted by police so officers are left to search for the location of the fireworks and the people igniting them, he said.
Andrea Nessel says fireworks have been a daily occurence in her Merritt Commons neighborhood since Memorial Day.
“It is just constant every night,” she told the Battle Creek Enquirer. “It is very difficult if you have young kids or work or have dogs.”
Nessel said she tries to provide addresses where the fireworks are used, but when police get there, people are no longer lighting up fireworks.
Ken Cunningham, director of public safety in Emmett Township, said his officers have the same problem of people calling to complain but not wanting to talk to the officers and so there is no way to find who is lighting the fireworks.
Blocker says people can file complaints on the department’s website and upload video that may be used as evidence, but without community support and a change in Michigan’s law, the problem won’t go away.
Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Battle Creek police: Enforcing fireworks law is difficult - WILX-TV
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