A Point Park University police car on First Avenue Downtown. Photo by Carson Folio.
By: Isaac Graves
Holidays are a great time to celebrate traditions with family or friends, but sometimes when people get a bit too rowdy, first responders must get involved.
Think about Independence Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and New Years Eve. During all those holidays, family and friends will come together to celebrate what they believe in, and when those people can get through those celebrations without any issues, everything is great.
However, when that is not the case, law enforcement might have to get involved. Often the calls that first responders will receive on these holidays might be as simple as a disorderly conduct call, and sometimes, these calls could involve some serious violence.
The Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day, has consistently been described as one of the days where first responders receive the greatest number of calls. A high percentage of those calls are due to illegal fireworks being set off, but there are still several calls that go further than just issues with fireworks.
“The number of shots fired calls increase, we have some calls that require EMS, but there isn’t a big uptick maybe 5%,” Officer Victoria Butch of the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Zone 4 said in an email interview.
In 2023, the Fourth of July weekend saw over a dozen mass shootings take place in that span. According to data from the Mass Shooting Tracker, on the Fourth of July and the three days before it, 17 mass shootings occurred. In those four days, there were 19 fatalities and over 100 injuries.
“Most of the time, it just helps if officers are visible, if you see an influx of officers in a certain there tends to be less of a problem, because there is the manpower that is able to deal with the situations if one comes up,” Sgt. William Wagner of the Point Park University Police Department said.
Wagner also said this about how the medic units respond to high profile events when they need to respond.
“And as for the medics responding, a lot of times medic units will stage down there at Point Park, so they have easy access to get through to get to people quickly,” Wagner said. “So they can get them to the hospital for the treatment that they need.”
The city of Pittsburgh normally has big city-wide celebrations for holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day and New Years Eve. A trait of those holiday celebrations that is not specific to Pittsburgh is a lot of people consuming alcohol, and often large amounts of it.
“Usually there are specific units that are organized during the holidays that gear more towards those types of crimes, I’m sure if you see on the news, they’ll have specific DUI related task forces for DUIs,” Officer Steven Wellington of the Point Park University Police Department said.
Officer Wellington went on to say that being in a downtown atmosphere and being part of a university police department specifically, his department does not encounter a lot of people driving under the influence, even during those holidays.
Whenever a crime does occur, first responders and especially law enforcement officers try to find solutions for everyone that is involved in any sort of criminal activity.
Officer Wellington said this about how the public can help themselves and others, so they don’t get caught up in any kind of trouble.
“I always tell people to just be vigilant,” Wellington said. “It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, whether it is a holiday or not, to be more vigilant.”
Officer Butch recommends that citizens call for an Uber or Lyft on holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day or New Years Eve, regardless of how many drinks they may have consumed. During the height of the holiday season, around Christmas time, keep packages in your trunk when transporting them so they are not as visible.
The Pittsburgh Police Department Zone 4 can be contacted day or night at 412-422-6520 and respond to crimes in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Point Park University Police can be reached at 412-392-3960 24 hours a day.
