July 1, 2025 • 7 mins
Sgt. Joe Albert of the CPD discusses steps they are taking to keep everyone safe during the huge fireworks event!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I do want to talk about fireworks, and let's talk
to our guy at Sergeant Joe Albert, Columbus Police Department.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's been a while this morning, sergeant. How are you good?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Mike? Are you? I'm wondering now and get some of
the ice cream.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You're just hey, we'll talk. We'll talk off the air.
Maybe we can work out a deal.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And get to some of this frozen streets there Sergeant
Joe Albert on a Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line.
So it's a busy week, sergeant, and I do want
to talk about Red, White and Boom and how your
guys and gals are preparing for it's a massive event
downtown on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
We'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
But you know, there's a lot of community fireworks out
there and you know, the next couple of days and
then there's the fireworks that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You know, just people like to do in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
They go out to the fireworks stands and they you know,
go get a couple hundred bucks there and they start,
you know, lighting some things off on the streets and
the driveways and so forth. And you know, it is
legal to discharge these types of fireworks on your own
property or the property of somebody else with permission there.
It's my understanding there's designated holidays that you can do
(01:05):
this in designated times unless prohibited by a local municipality.
So hypothetically speaking, if I'm, you know, trying to go
to bed on July fourth or July fifth, and my
neighbor is launching a bunch of mortars and can I
call you? And what will what will happen if someone
does call Columbus Police on one of these holidays where
(01:26):
it's okay to light off fireworks.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, first off, the City of Columbus does have an
ordinance to where you cannot light them off in the
city limits. Okay, So the City of Columbus, even regardless
of the state last, City of Columbus is one of
those local municipalities where it's not okay to go to
the fireworks stand and spend a couple hundred bucks and
let them off in the alleyways and your core or
anything like that. So it is illegal. You absolutely can
(01:52):
call us. Bear in mind, obviously we take runs on
a priority basis. Unfortunately, with if there's other stuff going
on in the city, the fireworks calls go down. However,
if officers do get there that your fireworks can't be confiscated,
We'll get in contact with our partners at Columbus Fire
and we can confiscate your fireworks and issue a citation.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Okay, I was gonna ask is there a ticket associated
with that as well?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, it's a it's a minor criminal charge.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Sure, so Columbus it's no go no matter what time
of the year. I mean, there are a number of
different holidays. You know, July third, fourth, and fifth, the
weekend's immediately before and after, you know, Labor Day weekend,
New Year's Day, Chinese New Year. There's a number of
different holidays that you can but city of state law, but.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Cy city one that says you cannot.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, And then and to your point, and I was
going to get to this, depending on what else is
going on, I mean, you may not get a visit
from Columbus Police or Fire immediately because there are potentially
more important things that you're dealing with.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
That is correct. Know that we do want you to
call and we'll get on the list for all starts
to be dispatched too. But obviously as things come in,
if their higher priority, the users will go there first.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
And we're talking about the airborne the mortars.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
They go up and explode and then are pretty up
in the sky and not some of the ones that
are just on the ground. Maybe some of the kids
like to use some of the smoke of the smoke
bombs and things like that.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Those are okay, sparklers, smoke bombs, all that stuff is
still okay. Yeah, we're talking about the larger fireworks and.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
How many do you guys get a lot of calls
in Columbus for this?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, we get quite a bit every year on round
fourth of July and around the Year's Eve, we get
a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, I bet you do.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Speaking with Sergeant Joe Albert, Columbus Police Department. All right, So, Red, White,
and Boom is Thursday, and you know, we know this, Joe.
It's what four hundred to five hundred thousand people all
headed downtown and some of them as early as like
nine or ten o'clock in the morning. It's a long day.
How are your guys and gals preparing for Thursday?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
This is, as you know, one of the largest events,
single day events in our city and it's something that
we prep for as soon as this year is done,
we're already prepping for next year. We have safety planes
in place. You will see a lot of officers in
the downtown area, whether it be on foot, on bicycles.
We have offsters on horses, web offsters in the sky,
and we even have officers on boats in the river.
(04:21):
We're well prepared to keep the city safe, keep the
event safe, but that does not go without some assistance
from the public. The old adage, you see something, say something,
there's gonna be plenty of officers around. You see something,
look suspicious, nintended packages, something like that, Grab an officer
that's walking by and let us take care of that.
(04:42):
So it's a it's a joint effort with us in
the community. But we are fully prepared to keep the
event and the rest of the city safe. Don't We
don't lower the staffing and the rest of the city
just because we have such a large event. We have
staffing planes in place to ensure that the neighborhoods are
also being controlled.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And do you partner at all with Franklin Money or
state police.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, we partner with everybody. State, local, and federal partners
are all involved in this. So it's all hands on
board with this large of an event downtown.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, like I said, we want to stress that that
doesn't mean that you have less officers in your in
your neighborhoods patrolling, and we still have the same amount
of officers patrolling that you would at any other time.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I would imagine if I was a Columbus police officer,
I would not have the day off on Thursday.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
There's very little that have the day off. We actually
canceled some days off so that way we do have
enough staffing domtire.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
It makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And I also would imagine there are a lot of
police officers and law enforcement officials who you would not
recognize because they'll be dressed just like everybody else.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
That is correct. We will have officers and playing clothes
as well as you know, throughout the crowd, just keeping
an eye out to make sure that there's everybody's safety
is here too.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And you know, going back a couple of years and
just looking at some of the incidents, it's remarkably from
in my memory, in the last couple of years, it's
been fairly incident free.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean when you get that knowing people downtown,
we obviously are you know, prone to having some sort
of disturbance or fights going on. Sure, we need a
big help from parents. We need you to know where
your teens are. We need you know who they're hanging
with and what they're bringing downtown with them. Don't let
them bring any weapons with them. Don't let them bring
(06:23):
ski mask with them. It's eighty plus degrees outside. They
don't need to wear a ski mask on the heat.
Not only is it is it you know, unsafe for them,
they could overheat wearing nothing, but it also causes a
large concern in public gatherings. People see people walking around
with face mask on, and obviously they think they're up
to no good.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And it's it's got to be tricky because, I mean,
people do bring coolers and backpacks and that type of
thing down because they camp out, they set up their
chairs and their spots they've been to for the last
twenty five years. So it's got to be difficult to
you know, make sure that everyone is kind of staying,
you know, flying right as it were, because there's they're
bringing coolers and all kinds of other things down there.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So it's got to be a challenge for you guys.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, we ask people to mark their coolers. Put your
name and phone number on your cooler so if we
do come across it, we can call you on the
flip side of that too. Such a large crowd, we
have a worry of missing kids, so there are several
missing person boose that are around downtown. We're actually going
to post them to our social media pages later today.
(07:25):
Visit one of those when you get here. When you
get downtown, get a bracelet for your child that has
some contact information for you. But also take a picture
of your child before you head downtown, so that way,
if you do become separated from your kid, you go
to the nearest police officer show them that picture. That
picture can be broadcast to every officer working downtown.
I do want to talk about fireworks, and let's talk
to our guy at Sergeant Joe Albert, Columbus Police Department.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's been a while this morning, sergeant. How are you good?
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Mike? Are you? I'm wondering now and get some of
the ice cream.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You're just hey, we'll talk. We'll talk off the air.
Maybe we can work out a deal.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And get to some of this frozen streets there Sergeant
Joe Albert on a Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line.
So it's a busy week, sergeant, and I do want
to talk about Red, White and Boom and how your
guys and gals are preparing for it's a massive event
downtown on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
We'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
But you know, there's a lot of community fireworks out
there and you know, the next couple of days and
then there's the fireworks that.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You know, just people like to do in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
They go out to the fireworks stands and they you know,
go get a couple hundred bucks there and they start,
you know, lighting some things off on the streets and
the driveways and so forth. And you know, it is
legal to discharge these types of fireworks on your own
property or the property of somebody else with permission there.
It's my understanding there's designated holidays that you can do
(01:05):
this in designated times unless prohibited by a local municipality.
So hypothetically speaking, if I'm, you know, trying to go
to bed on July fourth or July fifth, and my
neighbor is launching a bunch of mortars and can I
call you? And what will what will happen if someone
does call Columbus Police on one of these holidays where
(01:26):
it's okay to light off fireworks.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, first off, the City of Columbus does have an
ordinance to where you cannot light them off in the
city limits. Okay, So the City of Columbus, even regardless
of the state last, City of Columbus is one of
those local municipalities where it's not okay to go to
the fireworks stand and spend a couple hundred bucks and
let them off in the alleyways and your core or
anything like that. So it is illegal. You absolutely can
(01:52):
call us. Bear in mind, obviously we take runs on
a priority basis. Unfortunately, with if there's other stuff going
on in the city, the fireworks calls go down. However,
if officers do get there that your fireworks can't be confiscated,
We'll get in contact with our partners at Columbus Fire
and we can confiscate your fireworks and issue a citation.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Okay, I was gonna ask is there a ticket associated
with that as well?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah, it's a it's a minor criminal charge.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Sure, so Columbus it's no go no matter what time
of the year. I mean, there are a number of
different holidays. You know, July third, fourth, and fifth, the
weekend's immediately before and after, you know, Labor Day weekend,
New Year's Day, Chinese New Year. There's a number of
different holidays that you can but city of state law, but.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Cy city one that says you cannot.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, And then and to your point, and I was
going to get to this, depending on what else is
going on, I mean, you may not get a visit
from Columbus Police or Fire immediately because there are potentially
more important things that you're dealing with.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
That is correct. Know that we do want you to
call and we'll get on the list for all starts
to be dispatched too. But obviously as things come in,
if their higher priority, the users will go there first.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
And we're talking about the airborne the mortars.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
They go up and explode and then are pretty up
in the sky and not some of the ones that
are just on the ground. Maybe some of the kids
like to use some of the smoke of the smoke
bombs and things like that.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Those are okay, sparklers, smoke bombs, all that stuff is
still okay. Yeah, we're talking about the larger fireworks and.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
How many do you guys get a lot of calls
in Columbus for this?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, we get quite a bit every year on round
fourth of July and around the Year's Eve, we get
a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, I bet you do.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Speaking with Sergeant Joe Albert, Columbus Police Department. All right, So, Red, White,
and Boom is Thursday, and you know, we know this, Joe.
It's what four hundred to five hundred thousand people all
headed downtown and some of them as early as like
nine or ten o'clock in the morning. It's a long day.
How are your guys and gals preparing for Thursday?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
This is, as you know, one of the largest events,
single day events in our city and it's something that
we prep for as soon as this year is done,
we're already prepping for next year. We have safety planes
in place. You will see a lot of officers in
the downtown area, whether it be on foot, on bicycles.
We have offsters on horses, web offsters in the sky,
and we even have officers on boats in the river.
(04:21):
We're well prepared to keep the city safe, keep the
event safe, but that does not go without some assistance
from the public. The old adage, you see something, say something,
there's gonna be plenty of officers around. You see something,
look suspicious, nintended packages, something like that, Grab an officer
that's walking by and let us take care of that.
(04:42):
So it's a it's a joint effort with us in
the community. But we are fully prepared to keep the
event and the rest of the city safe. Don't We
don't lower the staffing and the rest of the city
just because we have such a large event. We have
staffing planes in place to ensure that the neighborhoods are
also being controlled.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And do you partner at all with Franklin Money or
state police.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, we partner with everybody. State, local, and federal partners
are all involved in this. So it's all hands on
board with this large of an event downtown.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, like I said, we want to stress that that
doesn't mean that you have less officers in your in
your neighborhoods patrolling, and we still have the same amount
of officers patrolling that you would at any other time.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I would imagine if I was a Columbus police officer,
I would not have the day off on Thursday.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
There's very little that have the day off. We actually
canceled some days off so that way we do have
enough staffing domtire.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
It makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And I also would imagine there are a lot of
police officers and law enforcement officials who you would not
recognize because they'll be dressed just like everybody else.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
That is correct. We will have officers and playing clothes
as well as you know, throughout the crowd, just keeping
an eye out to make sure that there's everybody's safety
is here too.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And you know, going back a couple of years and
just looking at some of the incidents, it's remarkably from
in my memory, in the last couple of years, it's
been fairly incident free.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, I mean when you get that knowing people downtown,
we obviously are you know, prone to having some sort
of disturbance or fights going on. Sure, we need a
big help from parents. We need you to know where
your teens are. We need you know who they're hanging
with and what they're bringing downtown with them. Don't let
them bring any weapons with them. Don't let them bring
(06:23):
ski mask with them. It's eighty plus degrees outside. They
don't need to wear a ski mask on the heat.
Not only is it is it you know, unsafe for them,
they could overheat wearing nothing, but it also causes a
large concern in public gatherings. People see people walking around
with face mask on, and obviously they think they're up
to no good.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And it's it's got to be tricky because, I mean,
people do bring coolers and backpacks and that type of
thing down because they camp out, they set up their
chairs and their spots they've been to for the last
twenty five years. So it's got to be difficult to
you know, make sure that everyone is kind of staying,
you know, flying right as it were, because there's they're
bringing coolers and all kinds of other things down there.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So it's got to be a challenge for you guys.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, we ask people to mark their coolers. Put your
name and phone number on your cooler so if we
do come across it, we can call you on the
flip side of that too. Such a large crowd, we
have a worry of missing kids, so there are several
missing person boose that are around downtown. We're actually going
to post them to our social media pages later today.
(07:25):
Visit one of those when you get here. When you
get downtown, get a bracelet for your child that has
some contact information for you. But also take a picture
of your child before you head downtown, so that way,
if you do become separated from your kid, you go
to the nearest police officer show them that picture. That
picture can be broadcast to every officer working downtown.
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