Ask the Mayor: Does the MPD Enforce Fireworks Laws?

Fireworks, file image by Wendy Osher.

Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the most-asked questions submitted to his office staff.

Dear Mayor,

Q: Has there been any enforcement of fireworks laws by the Maui Police Department recently? If not, why not? Illegal fireworks have been exploding in our area in Kahului every night since Thanksgiving weekend. Two of our three dogs are traumatized by them to the point of needing medication. The third dog is deaf, so he isn’t affected.

I have not seen MPD patrolling the neighborhoods in my area recently and I see no evidence whatsoever that they are enforcing the laws regulating fireworks. Laws are useless if they are not enforced.

A: Actually, our officers were kept busy responding to illegal fireworks since Thanksgiving Day. According to the Maui Police Department, their officers responded to 326 firework violation calls between Nov. 26, 2015, and Jan. 1, 2016.

Warnings and citations were given out, but in many cases it is hard to determine where aerials are being launched from unless you catch them in that act or have witnesses willing to accuse their own neighbors.

The best way to combat illegal fireworks is to prevent them from being sold in the first place. The Maui Police Department asks that anyone with credible information about the illegal sale of aerial fireworks to contact their non-emergency police phone line at 244-6400 or email MPD’s Community Relations section at [email protected].