Drone teams in north Orange County cities helped police officers take illegal fireworks off of the streets and catch dozens of perpetrators lighting them on the Fourth of July, officials said.<\/p>\n
Anaheim police used drones for the first time<\/a> to help catch those with illegal fireworks, issuing 40 citations that were handed out to homeowners, or will be sent to them this week, Sgt. Eric Anderson said.<\/p>\n The department confiscated about 2,500 pounds of illegal fireworks.<\/p>\n Anaheim police used drones 27 times to assist over the holiday weekend on calls for illegal fireworks, with two drone operators each night based at the department\u2019s headquarters on Harbor Boulevard.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, we\u2019re happy with it,\u201d Anderson said of the drone program and the results.<\/p>\n There were no repeat offenders this holiday season, Anderson said, adding anyone who received a citation could potentially face a $1,000 fine. Anaheim police received roughly 2,100 calls for service related to fireworks over the weekend.<\/p>\n An 8-year-old Anaheim girl\u2019s death from a fireworks mishap in neighboring Buena Park<\/a> was one reason the city deployed a drone program, the sergeant said.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, it really hit home in our community and it was something we didn\u2019t want to \u2026 see happen again,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n In next-door Santa Ana, police issued 183 citations for illegal fireworks during the holiday, with 107 attributed to the assistance of drones, the Santa Ana Police Department said on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n The department seized nearly 1,300 pounds of illegal fireworks in a bust, Orange County\u2019s largest this year, the department said.<\/p>\n And in Stanton, where drones were used for the first time last year to combat illegal fireworks, Mayor David Shawver said on Wednesday that responses this year for them were down, with no injuries reported.<\/p>\n The city did not yet have a total for the number of citations it was going to hand out to property owners, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause there was less activity this year, they (drone operators) were really able to emphasize and get great video of the violators on a major scale,\u201d Shawver said, as well as concentrate heavily on problem areas.<\/p>\n