Fourth is safe, sane despite the noise

Jeff Benson

Public drunkenness, fights and giant messes were problems that

Newport Beach felt needed to be addressed after 160 people were

arrested over the Fourth of July holiday in West Newport two years

ago.

Local law enforcement hoped last year wasn’t an anomaly, and

things may be on the upswing. Police felt last year’s Fourth of July

“safety enhancement zone” program, in which the department added 60

officers from other Orange County departments, was overwhelmingly

successful in comparison to 2002’s celebration.

This year, they decided to order another round, and according to

Lt. John Klein, they expected about the same result with the added

security -- most likely closer to last year’s 103 arrests. As of 6

p.m. Sunday, the department had made 16 arrests, the same number as

last year.

“We’ve made some alcohol-related arrests, and when we have this

amount of people who have been drinking, there will be some fights.

Now we have the officers we need to keep things from becoming a much

larger incident.”

Klein said teams of four officers were designated to each street

in West Newport, just west of Balboa Peninsula. The officers began

knocking on doors and patrolling the area at 11 a.m. and planned to

finish patrolling between midnight and 2 a.m., when they felt the

commotion would subside.

The goal, Klein said, was to prevent a “flashpoint” incident,

which may start as an argument or fight and erupt into a mob scene

involving 200 or 300 people. In addition, police would continue to

operate as usual in other parts of town outside the safety

enhancement zone.

“We’ve gone to several parties to tell people to tone it down or

to move along,” Klein said Sunday. “There are a lot of people in town

today.”

Newport Beach police said they planned to keep a close eye on West

Newport, the area west of Newport Boulevard and south of Pacific

Coast Highway. Additionally, more officers were added to patrol the

Newport Dunes resort later in the evening, Klein said.

By 6 p.m. Sunday, the barium and strontium hadn’t yet exploded

over Costa Mesa, as police Sgt. Zack Hoferitza said the city had no

Fourth-of-July-related incidents thus far. Police did make two

arrests in a 21-minute span on the same block of Elden Avenue in

Costa Mesa for illegal fireworks.

Fireworks are legal in Costa Mesa, but the city didn’t have as

many sponsored activities occurring before dusk as Newport Beach.

Hoferitza believed potential fire and alcohol-related problems

would surface as people began shooting off fireworks.

* JEFF BENSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.