New York City to target suppliers of illegal fireworks

As complaints of illegal fireworks continue to soar, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced the creation of a task force aimed at snuffing out the loud bangs and crackles that echo during the overnight hours.

New York is one of several major cities that is reporting a large uptick in illegal fireworks complaints, joining Boston, San Francisco, Oakland, Pasadena, California, and others.

“We’re going to start a huge sting operation to go and get these illegal fireworks at the base,” de Blasio said at his daily briefing on Tuesday. “Meaning everywhere they’re being sold around New York City, and even where they’re being sold in surrounding states that we know are flowing into New York City.”

The task force will consist of 10 officers from the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau, 12 FDNY fire marshals and 20 members of the Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. They will work together to identify where the fireworks are coming from, zeroing in on suppliers and seizing them when they can, de Blasio said.

“We go at the suppliers,” de Blasio said. “There will be all sorts of actions taken. Undercover buys, sting operations, finding where the supply is and cutting it off at the knees.”

Fireworks have been an ongoing problem in New York City, with complaints skyrocketing in June.

From June 1 until June 21, there were 11,275 calls to report illegal fireworks. During the same time frame last year there were only 28 calls, according to 311 data released by the mayor’s office.

Residents who have grown tired of hearing the bangs and pops at night organized a protest outside of de Blasio’s residence, blaring their car horns as a way to implore the mayor to take action.

And on Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison posted a video on Twitter asking for help identifying a man seen throwing a firework at a homeless man who was sleeping on the sidewalk in Harlem. The footage shows the unknown man running off moments before an explosion and a flash of fire is seen that burned the man’s back.

Police are still searching for the man who threw the firework.

In another incident, New York City fire marshals arrested two men in Staten Island on Tuesday for allegedly having $6,000 worth of illegal fireworks, fire department spokesman Jim Long told CNN.

They were on their way back from fireworks shopping in Pennsylvania, Long said, and authorities believe that they intended to resell the fireworks when they got back in the city. They will be charged with reckless endangerment and the unlawful dealing of fireworks, according to an Instagram post from the fire department.

Despite the move to create the task force, there is no plan in place to target individual people who are setting off fireworks in the city.

“Business as usual,” said the official when asked about what can be expected Tuesday night in New York City.

The focus, the official said, is on the main suppliers and distributors, not on the people setting off fireworks.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams says he’s had to field calls from residents asking him to talk to local police precincts to step up enforcement.

Adams says he’s been going out at night to neighborhoods in Brooklyn to talk to the young people setting off fireworks.

Adams, a former member of the NYPD who retired in 2005, said he wanted to be there in case a situation between a police officer and a youth became tense and wanted to help defuse any potential situation.

“I don’t want cops that are frustrated and angry from the protest to step to them the wrong way,” Adams said. “There’s one thing more dangerous than a man who has nothing to lose. That’s a youth who has nothing to lose.”