San Bruno — one of only two cities in the county to allow the sale of safe and sane fireworks — saw a decline in calls for service and citations on the Fourth of July, historically one of the city’s busiest days for police and fire.
“As anyone who has lived or visited San Bruno knows, the Fourth of July is a busy holiday for us. It presents some well-known challenges,” Police Chief Matthew Lethin said at a City Council meeting July 22. “All communities and cities in our region experience this issue. While we’re aware we won't ever eliminate it, we can responsibly manage it.”
The San Bruno Police Department saw 16 citations issued on the Fourth of July and the days leading up to it, Lethin said. That’s the same number as last year, but a marked decrease from 2022, which saw 25 citations.
General calls for service are also decreasing, Lethin said. The 220 calls in 2022 have come down to 121 calls this year. That’s also 20 calls fewer than the year before — in 2024, calls around the Fourth of July totaled 141.
Costs of enforcement were also down, Lethin said. Total costs of service for this year’s police, fire and city service was roughly $52,000. Last year’s costs stood at around $77,000.
Technically, the city should be receiving $16,000 back from the 16 firework-related citations that were given out on the holiday, each costing $1,000 apiece. It’s typical for the city to not receive immediate payment for citations, Lethin said, but Mayor Rico Medina emphasized that collecting on the payments is nonnegotiable.
“I think the council would concur if a citation is issued, there is obviously a process and it can be an appeal, but they do [need to] be collected,” he said.
Lethin attributed the overall decline in costs to a data-driven policing approach.
“Really looking at where our call volume was and putting officers where that resulted in a decrease in cost,” he said.
Calls for fire department assistance were fairly consistent on the Fourth of July and days leading up to it, Fire Chief Ari Delay said. Only seven calls on the Fourth of July were actually fire-related.
“The activity this year was quite a bit lighter than normal,” he said.
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