At a recent council meeting, Garland Police Chief Jeff Bryan provided the City Council and Mayor Scott LeMay the results of the GPD’s effort to decrease problems with New Year’s Eve fireworks and gunshots.
Bryan said that there were 935 New Year’s Eve calls; 338 were high priority and included 48 domestic disturbance, 11 disturbance with a weapon and three major accidents.
The remaining 597 calls were a lower priority and 264 were general, 177 involved fireworks/gunshots and 74 were about loud music and parties.
According to the chief, New Year’s Eve was second only to July 4, 2019, which brought in more than 1,100 calls.
The department had 67 officers on duty on New Year’s Eve, along with three DWI task officers and 16 fireworks task force officers. The officers issued 23 citations compared to 16 in 2018. The July 4, 2019 citation total was 50.
This year, GPD made yard signs available to the public to discourage fireworks and gunshots. The message on the sign warned that firing a gun could result in an arrest and that there could be a $500 fine for shooting fireworks. Bryan said that the signs were to “educate, to raise awareness that this is not an acceptable act and that it is dangerous.” The signs were offered to anyone in the city and citizens picked them up at the police stations to display in their yards.
The primary goals of the department are the safety and protection of the citizens as well as police officers and the protection of property. There were no deaths, no serious injuries, no DWI injuries, no injured officers and no significant property damage on New Year’s Eve.
“Everyone in Garland made it to bed safely,” Bryan said. “They may have made it to bed late, but at least they made it to bed safely.”
District 4 Council Member Jim Bookhout said that he did not see signs in South Garland and the district experienced an increase in gunshots and fireworks.
District 2 Council Member Deborah Morris reported a difference for the better between this New Year’s Eve and last year. She also said that the residents in District liked the signs and saw the difference they made. She added, though, that the problem of gunshots and fireworks was worse in the parts of District 2 that border District 1 and District 5.
Citizens may hold on to the signs for use on Independence Day and the next New Year’s Eve or they can return them to the police department to be stored for upcoming holidays.