Law enforcement increasing patrols for July Fourth holiday

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — As July Fourth approaches, law enforcement agencies here on the High Plains are gearing up to make sure everyone has a safe Independence Day.

Sgt. Carla Burr with the Amarillo Police Department said during the July Fourth holiday, it is a busier time for the department.

“On July 4 itself, we will get an additional 500 phone calls to the dispatch center, at least on fireworks alone and that’s in addition to the 500 phone calls we get for the normal, we get about 500 to 600, 700 calls every day in our dispatch center. So now we are talking about 1000 to 1200 potential calls and we are going to have maybe a half a dozen to a dozen extra officers working for double the amount of calls,” said Sgt. Burr.

Sgt. Burr said APD will be patrolling for fireworks, drinking and driving, and then officers patrolling for calls for service.

Sgt. Burr added there will be officers specifically set aside to handle firework calls.

“But there could be something that happens where we need to pull them, there could be a larger call volume or an emergency and we need to pull some of them and send them to another call where it could be a life-threatening emergency. A fatal accident or something like that,” said Sgt. Burr.

According to the City of Amarillo, it is illegal to possess, sell, or shoot fireworks within the city limits of Amarillo even on private property and violators can face a fine of up to $2,000.

“The reason for us having that is because, number one it is illegal inside the city limits, but second it is very dangerous. Last year, we had a young man die because of a firework accident, in addition to pets getting lost, people with PTSD and mental disorders can be disturbed by that and it can catch your house on fire,” said Sgt. Burr.

Sgt. Burr added that officers will also be out at the City of Amarillo’s Independence Day +1 event.

“We almost always have our neighbor police officers out there, just hanging out and being seen and then we will have our patrol officers that will be potentially assigned there as an extra duty job, and then in addition to that, we always have a Special Ops plan in case something where to happen,” said Sgt. Burr.

Sgt. Cindy Barkley with the Texas Department of Public Safety said the public can expect to see more DPS troopers on the roadway Thursday and Friday.

“We will be out looking for intoxicated drivers, people who are not wearing their seatbelts, speeders, as well as other dangerous violations such as distracted driving, people failing to slow down or move over for emergency vehicles. Because those violations tend to cause crashes,” said Sgt. Barkley.

Sgt. Barkley said last year there were several fatalities over the July Fourth holiday weekend on Texas roadways.

“25% of those fatalities were alcohol-related, so please, please. Designate a sober driver or utilize one of those ride-share services to help get you home safely because we want everyone’s Fourth of July to be joyous not end in tragedy,” said Sgt. Barkley.

According to DPS, last year during the Fourth of July holiday enforcement period, troopers issued more than 18,000 citations and warnings which led to 5,000 arrests.

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