To prevent tragedies like the New Year’s Aliamanu fireworks explosion that killed four people and injured dozens, city and state officials are mulling stricter legal penalties for those caught using, buying and selling illegal fireworks throughout Hawaii.

After his third State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Josh Green outlined how his administration would issue up to $300 citations, similar to speeding tickets, to those caught with illegal fireworks and charge felony crimes for fireworks incidents that lead to injuries or death.

Green on Wednesday introduced House Bill 1005 and Senate Bill 1324 to make selling illegal fireworks that injure or kill someone a class B felony with up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The bills also call for enhanced penalties and new legal language aimed at easing “the standard of proof” to allow citations and make enforcement easier.

RELATED STORY: Green’s bills go after sellers of fireworks that maim, kill

The Honolulu City Council last week discussed similar solutions to quell rampant illegal fireworks use on Oahu.

But current city laws on the books and an apparent lack of manpower within Honolulu Police Department’s patrol division to enforce those laws continue to hinder that effort.

During a Thursday Public Safety Committee meeting, HPD Acting Assistant Chief Brian Lynch said patrol officers will work days before New Year’s Eve “to go out and look and find these people who are selling fireworks.”

“Sometimes we get lucky and somebody reports the neighbor or there’s a person here with a match container selling fireworks,” he said. “We will go in a plainclothes capacity, and try to arrest somebody and seize the load of fireworks. We have been successful in the past with that, but it’s not always a guarantee.”

However, he noted a “new trend” is for motorists to “stop on the freeway on Waipahu side and observe the fireworks, which creates hazards on the road.”

“That in itself takes a large group of officers to manage that, as well as tow trucks and everything else as you can imagine,” he said. “And then from there on throughout the night it’s really responding to calls.”

But to actually hand out tickets or make arrests over the use of illegal fireworks — in many instances deemed high explosives — is something else entirely, according to Lynch.

“They’re bombs,” he added. “So for us as police officers, if we find a bomb, actually what we’re supposed to do is leave it and stay away and call our bomb guy.

“And there’s only like one bomb guy,” he said. “And then he comes out and he recovers it, and everything is safety, right?

“So, essentially, with what we’ve got going on nowadays is there’s bombs everywhere,” Lynch said. “So, although we’re struggling with the laws and legislation … as with any law that’s new, there’s issues, we’ve got to through those issues to make it easier to enforce.”

He noted the lack of officers on the street versus the “multitude of people using illegal fireworks” makes the situation harder.

“So even if we had a multitude of teams out there, we would blow through our assets to deal with that in the first two hours,” he said.

Lynch offered an analogy for HPD’s efforts to fight illegal fireworks on Oahu: an oceangoing boat suffering from holes in its hull, and having to bail out incoming sea water with buckets also filled with holes.

“So I give you guys the buckets and we’re bailing and bailing, but the water isn’t going down, (it’s) because our buckets are not good enough to deal with the problem,” he said. “But nobody’s looking at the holes in the side of the boat. So somebody has the bright idea to say, ‘Let’s stop the water coming in the boat.’”

To his point, Lynch said curbing the flow of illegal fireworks means stopping it at its source — in this case, to prevent explosives from passing through ports of entry on Oahu.

HPD Maj. Mike Lambert — recently nominated by the governor to become the next director of the state Department of Law Enforcement — also addressed illegal fireworks here.

“It comes down to this: Why do we not have the type of law enforcement statistics that people would feel good about that something is happening, right?” he said, alluding to low arrest statistics in fireworks cases, which he did not disclose at the meeting. “I think that the frustration that the community is feeling is that we do have current laws, and we don’t have enforcement stats that are even close to being significant for what they’re observing.”

Lambert said part of the reason is that existing state and federal laws pertaining to illegal fireworks are “very cumbersome.”

“It requires the officer to understand (federal transportation code) because that’s how fireworks are defined,” he said. “So when you have that burden of proof, officers get a little bit hesitant to apply that law … and that’s another domino that we have.

“So the issue is, even if we catch someone, I can’t build a case to have enough pressure on them to tell me where they got it from,” he added.

First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Brady confirmed using airborne camera drones to spot illegal fireworks offenders on the ground was negated by a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that stated aerial surveillance of backyards “qualifies as a warrant-less search.”

“So all of the work that the HPD officers were doing if they were to use a drone would not be admissible in court,” he added.

Deputy Prosecutor Florence Nakakuni noted city laws relating to illegal fireworks are misdemeanor crimes. “There is no felony penalty under the Revised Ordinance of Honolulu,” she added.

She said prosecuting someone for illegal fireworks use is also difficult to prove in court.

“Once the item is detonated, we can’t prove this,” she said. “And I have seen citations written by well-­meaning officers, and officers who want to enforce the law, but I can’t proceed with them because I cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Police officers sometimes will see something detonated, she added. But she said, “There’s nothing to test — it was ignited, it exploded, it’s gone, and we don’t always have pictures.”

It was also noted that actions taken by the Council will pertain to misdemeanor, not felony crimes, which are covered by state and federal laws.

Still, Brady said “definitions” of illegal aerial fireworks need to be changed “at the City Council level as well.”

He added, “And so if we can do that and we can have both, enforcement (and) good laws involving misdemeanors and petty misdemeanors, violations and citations — the City Council member’s kuleana — as well as state law that handles others then I think we’re (benefiting).”

At the Jan. 16 City Council meeting, Council Chair Tommy Waters said he appreciated HPD’s analogy of a flooding boat in need of repair.

“I like analogies too,” added Waters. “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. If we just define fireworks and make it as easy as possible for the police to identify, and say possession of fireworks without a permit.

“So the police officer (says) ‘Excuse me sir, do you have a permit for these fireworks?’” he said. “Whether it was an aerial or not, if you don’t have a permit, we can arrest or cite them.”

Lambert said he’s recommended that future state-level legislation allow HPD to give a civil citation for “possession-based” crimes involving illegal fireworks. He also requested the Council draft a resolution urging the Legislature to make illegal fireworks laws “simpler and easier to use.”

Meanwhile, Waters asked how HPD’s investigation into the deadly Aliamanu fireworks explosion is progressing.

“Homicide was assigned,” Lambert replied. “So those are the best detectives that we have, and I’m confident that if there is an ability to prosecute, that that will happen.”