HONOLULU (KHON2) — No questions were asked as dozens of people turned in hundreds of pounds of fireworks to state, local, and federal law enforcement officers at Aloha Stadium on Saturday. In return, people were given gift cards.
With new firework laws that went into effect recently, the Department of Law Enforcement says it’s cracking down and warning folks who plan on setting off fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
DLE says hundreds of mortar shells were turned in, and about 500 pounds of aerials were turned in.
Many residents told KHON2 the new fireworks laws and the Aliamanu New Year’s Eve explosion were reasons why they dropped them off.
“That is definitely a factor,” one resident said. “One of my friends wanted to keep the fireworks, but I told him because I don’t know how old it is, it could possibly be defective or whatnot and I didn’t want them to use it.”
It’s the first time the state is essentially paying people to turn in fireworks.
“We had a great amount of compliance for 4th of July,” said DLE Director Mike Lambert. “And [the state] realizing people probably did acquire fireworks, and are maybe now looking for ways not to have them in their homes because of the safety risk and the liability risk.”
New laws went into effect in July that allow officers to issue citations based on observations and even drone observations, and now homeowners can be held accountable.
“So, if you’re popping them at your grandma’s house, your grandma might come down with some charges, so you might want to think about that if you have kids, adult children in your home, just know that the liability could be passed to you as a homeowner,” Lambert said.
“What I want people to understand is, it’s going to be very serious, and we are looking to make examples of people. So what you might think is not a big deal amount, it could cost you jail time,” he added.
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With the new laws, over 25 pounds of fireworks could get you a felony charge.
“We know New Year’s Eve is a different monster from 4th of July, and I wasn’t able to make my example of an offender for 4th of July, so I’ll be looking to make that example for New Year’s Eve or within that time frame,” Lambert added.
After testing out the drones on July 4, and knowing locations of where people typically blow off fireworks, he said law enforcement is ready for New Year’s Eve, and they are tracking and checking shipments too.
“We had a huge infusion of covert operation money, so when we do flag a container, we’re definitely going to see who it goes to and that individual who receives it, I will say this nicely, they should get a lawyer,” he warned.
He said there will be another buyback opportunity before New Year’s Eve, and these buyback events put them one step ahead of people who try to argue they didn’t have a way to get rid of fireworks and decided to light them off instead.
“So if they go to court and their defense is, ‘I wanted to comply, but I didn’t have a way to get rid of them so I thought I would just light them up,’ With an event like this it says no, we held two buy backs, in fact not only could you turn it in, we were willing to pay you to turn it in and you didn’t do that and now we caught you later on in the season and now you have to go face those charges without any type of excuse.”
KHON2 will update when the next buyback is scheduled.