July 4th arrests down 20% in Newport this year

Fourth of July arrests dropped 20% in Newport Beach compared with 2014, pushing the number of people taken into custody under 100 for the first time in years, police said.

Local law enforcement has been trying to temper the Balboa Peninsula’s reputation as a party zone on Independence Day.

Newport police say the goal is to create a more-manageable environment for residents that doesn’t require every officer on duty to hand out citations or make mostly alcohol-related arrests.

That effort showed some progress this year when officers arrested only 94 people between 6 p.m. July 3 and 6 a.m. on July 5, Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said, compared with 120 in 2014 and 124 in 2013.

According to police, that reduction happened despite good weather and a three-day weekend that drew big crowds.

“We still had lots of visitors here in town,” Manzella said. “We were pleased to see there wasn’t as much need for police enforcement as there has been in previous years.”

This let officers focus more on other enforcement, such as responding to complaints about fireworks, she said.

Newport police received just under 100 calls about fireworks, which are all illegal in the city, according to Manzella, but police could not immediately say how many citations they handed out.

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CMPD investigates bomb-like device

In neighboring Costa Mesa, where the “safe and sane” versions of the pyrotechnics are allowed during certain hours, police said they handed out 25 citations for illegal fireworks.

Officers also made one misdemeanor arrest for possession of dangerous fireworks and one felony arrest for making a destructive device, according to Costa Mesa police Lt. Greg Scott.

The device, Scott said, was essentially a bomb made out of a soda bottle.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad responded to dispose of the device, he said.

More information was not immediately available.