By Jonnelle Marte and Ronald J. Hansen
The Detroit News
DETROIT, Mich. — In a summer when authorities are dealing with higher crime, more parolees and tighter budgets, hunting for illegal fireworks seems a luxury more police agencies say they simply cannot afford.
Organized sweeps in years past yielded relatively few illegal fireworks, making it easier for authorities to keep such enforcement a secondary concern this year.
“I don’t have a lot of extra people around to do lower priority things like this,” said Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans. “It’s not that it’s not important. It’s just not as high on the radar screen. With any credible information about something, we’ll look into it, but we’re stretched way too thin.”
Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said he suspects there may be more illegal fireworks in his county this season, but it has to take a back seat to the high-profile crimes and other pressing problems his department faces.
“We get inundated with complaints the day before and the day of,” he said. “People need to understand we’re trying to prioritize.”
Michigan law requires special licenses for using fireworks that fly or explode, but they cannot legally be sold. Such explosives can be purchased, but not used, in Indiana and Ohio, and police here seldom have the resources to examine every roadside merchant, many of which display illegal fireworks openly alongside the rest of their merchandise.
Many Michiganians have made a tradition of driving into Ohio and Indiana, where they can buy the fireworks legally as long as they sign a form that says they’ll take them out of the state within 72 hours.
“If I had the cash to burn this year, I’d spend $500 in Ohio, but I’m just going to spend $300 in Michigan,” said David Smith, a brick layer from Center Line who in the past has trekked to Ohio to buttress his Independence Day celebration.
Authorities concede Michigan’s law is often broken. Last week in Howell Township, for example, authorities reportedly confiscated about $500,000 in illegal fireworks from a single dealer. In April, Romulus authorities found a business with 500 pounds of illegal fireworks stashed in the attic of a paint shop.
Fireworks vendors have set up shop across Metro Detroit in the last several weeks, selling from roadside stands or renting storefronts.
At a shop in Hazel Park on Monday, a vendor was selling illegal aerial fireworks next to sparklers and legal fountain fireworks. The vendor declined to discuss the business.
Hackel said raising fines for selling illegal fireworks could cut down on such activity. As it stands, a $500 fine still leaves merchants with plenty of profit, he said.
Hackel and Evans agree they are more concerned with safety than raids. They said they don’t want the next case involving an errant explosive to ignite a fire or maim someone.
Last summer, a 62-year-old Green Oak Township man suffered critical injuries from an aerial mortar shell that misfired when he ignited it.
One of the more tragic examples happened in 2001, when a man tossed a firecracker into a barn at the Grosse Pointe Hunt Club. The firecracker sparked a fire that killed 19 horses.
“Nobody thinks it will happen to them,” Hackel said. “The reality is these things do happen and that’s why it’s illegal.”
Copyright 2007 The Detroit News