More than 360 complaints about fireworks in four days: WRPS Chief

Frustrations are growing over fireworks in Waterloo Region.

Police have been inundated with complaints about unsafe behaviours in the last week, like fireworks being set off in the middle of residential roads.

“From Oct. 31 to Nov. 3, our call centre, which serves the entire Region of Waterloo, received about 362 bylaw calls related to fireworks,” said Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell.

Crowell made the comments while on The Mike Farwell Show on 570 NewsRadio on Tuesday. He said the majority of complaints about fireworks are a bylaw issue unless there’s an imminent public safety risk or criminal offence.

Regardless of the nature of the call, they’re all fielded through one regional call centre, which is causing a significant strain.

“From a communications standpoint, this puts a total crush on our 911 centre,” explained Crowell. “We used to get maybe one or two calls per incident, we’re getting multiple calls per incident now. And the total volume puts an immense pressure on the total system.”

Crowell noted the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) is now exploring what kind of operational plans to put in place for holidays where fireworks are allowed because of the growing demand.

“We will look at this through an operational planning lens moving forward, meaning that we need to plan additional resources above the regular daily interactions,” said Crowell.

The response follows multiple chaotic celebrations in Kitchener’s Victoria Park where fireworks were shot at crowds and cars, and a Waterloo councillor was struck and injured by a firework this past Canada Day.