Holiday weekend a quiet one for police

Deepa Bharath

The last day of the much-talked-about year 2000 quietly disappeared

into the darkness at the stroke of midnight making way for another new

year -- and it all happened without hype, fear, elaborate police

preparations or doomsday prophecies.

The cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa saw fewer incidents and

arrests than they would during an average weekend, officials said Monday,

adding that no significant incidents were reported on city streets,

freeways or the beach.

The Costa Mesa Police Department received about 15 calls from

residents complaining about noise, said Sgt. Loren Wyick.

“We got about six or seven calls about fireworks and three or four

about shots being fired,” he said. But officers did not find bullets or

injured people in those areas, said Wyick.Other complaints were mostly

about loud music or revelers who partied into the early hours, he said.

There were a few DUI arrests and collisions, some alcohol-related but

none of them serious, said Wyick.

Costa Mesa police did not deploy additional officers to patrol on New

Year’s Eve, he said.

“We did have an extra DUI team,” said Wyick. “But otherwise it was the

usual number of officers.”

Last year, as a precautionary measure, Costa Mesa had 35 additional

officers patrolling neighborhoods as opposed to six or seven on any other

New Year’s Eve.

There were no significant incidents last year either except for one

shooting that sent a 21-year-old Anaheim man to the hospital and led to

the arrest of a 22-year-old Costa Mesa man on attempted murder charges.

Newport Beach Police Department’s “arrest activity was lower than a

normal weekend,” said Sgt. Jim Kaminsky.

“We had a few incidents of people drunk in public and some drunk

driving,” he said. “But the incidents on New Year’s Eve have been

decreasing with every year.”

Kaminsky said that was because of the Police Department’s proactive

approach.

“Our traffic department always has more officers out on the field

during the holidays,” he said. “That has helped to a great extent.”