On the Fourth of July, law enforcement agencies work long shifts, coordinate with federal agencies, and boost their presence on every block and marina.
“As the statistics have shown us the accidents go up during the summer,” said Lieutenant Banuelos with the Harbor Police. “Every officer is gonna work 12.5 hours minimum, so we work long days so our day shift is extended and our night shift is extended.”
Many choose to watch the firework show along the bay, but some choose to watch it in the bay.
“The good thing is there's no place where you don't have a fantastic view of the fireworks show, but once you're on a boat underneath the fire, you got to be at least 1000 ft away,” said Lt. Banuelos.
Operation Dry Water is a nationwide effort, and new initiative here in San Diego, will bring that same level of safety from land to sea.
“We're gonna have our officers out doing proactive stops on vessels in order to essentially reduce boating under the influence and accidents that happen on the boats,” said Lt. Banuelos.
Overall, theyre keeping an eye on San Diegans, as well as conflict around the world.
“Things that are happening nationwide or internationally, yeah, we do take that into account, but we absolutely keep as much awareness on it and you know have our intel and planning team reach out. We're a partnership with our federal agencies like the Coast Guard and the FBI. In fact, they're gonna be working with us hand in hand. So we want people to be vigilant, but we want them to have a good time,” said Lt. Banuelos.
And incase the vigilance may decrease- law enforcement is ready to step in.
“We're going to have officers in plain clothes that are out doing surveillance and checking our areas. We're gonna have a bomb tech on duty. We're going to have a K-9 explosive detection on duty. We're gonna have a dive team on duty. We're gonna have a SWAT team on duty. We're gonna have a command vehicle on duty. We're gonna have an armored vehicle ready to respond,” said Lt. Banuelos. “We plan to be very visible and to be extra vigilant and to be out here to maintain the safety for all our public, and we want them to report any suspicious behavior, you know, again, if you see something, say something.”
