CMPD stepping up patrols for holiday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Firecrackers, fights and general mayhem have spoiled Charlotte's July Fourth celebrations in the past. Last year, police drew the line and this year they plan to do the same with even more officers.

"The ones that want to come and enjoy themselves should feel safe and secure; the ones who want to come and disrupt that should know that were going to be aggressive with that," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Deputy Police Chief Jerry Sennett.

The department will put an extra 450 officers on the street this holiday, which is 100 more than last year. They will be joined by 100 sheriff's deputies, all to speed the arrest processing, which got bogged down last year.

"If you get out in the middle of the street and disrupt traffic, you will be arrested. If you throw fireworks at others, you will be arrested. If you start fighting or involved in that type of behavior, you will be arrested. If you bring weapons, you will be arrested," Sennett said.

Those extra officers will come from cancelled vacations and days off, a shifting of officers from some investigative units and special details. The traffic unit will be out to search for drunk drivers, and the civil emergency unit will handle unruly crowds.

If all this sounds like the police are preparing for war, that's not the case. They believe that if someone is thinking about doing something stupid, once they see all the cops, they will back down.

"We'll have officers in plain clothes, we'll have officers in undercover, we'll have officers looking at cameras," Sennett said. "We have officers in our sky watch, we'll have a lot of different things going on to try and detect."

Police are also expecting a lot of people to report the use of firecrackers, which are illegal in Mecklenburg County. Officers say please call 311 to report them, instead of 911. They don't want emergency lines tied up on the holiday.

Fireworks, noise complaints? Call 311

Charlotte city officials are urging residents to call 311 instead of 911 to report noise complaints over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Officials said that calling 311 will still connect you to police, but allows the 911 lines to stay open for emergencies.

To report non-emergencies, call 311.