SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — According to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dee Baldwin, more than 70 deputies patrolled the unincorporated parts of the county, confiscating 250 pounds of illegal fireworks throughout the night.
Between 6 a.m. July 4 and 6 a.m. on the 5th, deputies responded to 187 calls for service, 67 of which were fireworks-related.
They made 10 arrests for drugs, alcohol and assault, and wrote 16 citations for fireworks, drugs and alcohol.
A total of 35 people were booked into Santa Cruz County Jail, while 13 went to the Janus Sobering Center, Baldwin said.
In Watsonville, police officers wrote 20 violations, each of which came with a $1,000 fine.
Several young people were found to be in violation, which carried fines for both being a minor in possession of fireworks and illegal fireworks possession charges.
“We had calls coming in throughout the night,” Watsonville Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said.
Santa Cruz Police kept 100 percent of its staff for the Fourth of July enforcement, but saw a relatively quiet evening, SCPD spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke said.
“Overall, there were no significant incidents to report,” she said.
Police in that city responded to 418 calls for service between the hours of midnight July 4 and 3 a.m. July 5. Out of those, 93 were fireworks related.
SCPD reported one felony arrest, three misdemeanor arrest for being drunk in public, 24 infractions for people who had open containers of alcohol and eight triple-fine citations for alcohol and fireworks violations, Blaschke said.
