Des Moines reduces fireworks fine to $200 in hopes of curbing illegal displays

The fine for setting off fireworks in Des Moines has been significantly reduced ahead of Fourth of July weekend — a move city officials hope will curb the illegal use of fireworks.

Des Moines City Council members Monday night unanimously approved lowering the misdemeanor fine for setting off fireworks from $625 to $200 to encourage police to issue citations and more closely align fees with other metro cities.

"The idea is to make this change not to weaken enforcement but to, you know, have officers on the front line be more comfortable with issuing a ticket of this magnitude in line with the way this is enforced in other places in the metro," city council member Josh Mandelbaum said at the meeting.

Last Fourth of July, more than 1,000 complaints about fireworks were called into Des Moines metro police stations, but only 11 citations were written.

Additionally, the Des Moines Fire Department responded to 20 fires confirmed to be caused by fireworks, according to city data.

Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders added the city will be bulking up Des Moines Police Department enforcement particularly around city parks, after thousands of dollars worth of damages to 27 city parks were reported over Independence Day weekend in 2023.

More: Hundreds of fireworks complaints, yet few tickets written in Des Moines metro

"We will never have enough police officers to control that on the Fourth of July," council member Joe Gatto said at the meeting. "I hope this will help when people are being very disruptive in the middle of the night … that this would help our officers be able to issue a citation like this because I know they were somewhat uncomfortable I think issuing a $600 citation, and I'm hoping that this will help."

Des Moines Police officials have in the past asked residents to keep the 911 lines open for priority emergencies and report non-emergency fireworks complaints to 515-283-4811.

More: Want to report that illegal fireworks display next door? Don't use 911, police request.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines reduces fireworks fine to $200 ahead of Fourth of July