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Carpentersville police outline stricter 2026 fireworks enforcement plan
Summary
Police Chief Stanowitz presented a Fireworks Enforcement Action Plan to trustees on June 2, 2026, citing multi-year hotspot data and a rise in citations; the plan pairs targeted deployments and public education with a department bulletin that limits officer discretion.
Police Chief Stanowitz told the Carpentersville Village Board on June 2 that the police department will pursue a targeted enforcement and education campaign this summer to reduce illegal fireworks incidents and related quality-of-life complaints.
Stanowitz said call volumes related to fireworks “fell significantly from 141 calls for service in 2021 to 65 in 2023” and then rose to 94 in 2025. He said the department issued 34 citations in 2025 compared with one to seven citations in prior years, a change he described as reflecting “proactive enforcement” rather than a steady upward trend. The department packaged these findings in a Fireworks Enforcement Action Plan (FEEP) and distributed a departmentwide bulletin that, Stanowitz said, intentionally minimizes officer discretion and sets clearer enforcement expectations.
Why it matters: trustees and staff said they want to reduce injuries, fires and neighborhood disturbances while focusing enforcement at known hotspots and peak times. The chief pointed to rolling five-year hotspot maps and weekday/time trends — including a Friday 9:00 p.m. peak — to guide staffing and targeted patrols, and he said the initiative will run beyond the July 4 holiday into late summer.
Stanowitz described the approach as education plus enforcement: an expanded social-media campaign, coordinated messaging with village departments, and targeted officer deployments guided by incident data. He said the department will use CAD and records searches to identify repeat violators and that issuing citations will be expected in many routine enforcement encounters, though limited discretion remains for competing emergency calls.
During questions, a trustee asked whether verbal warnings must be recorded and whether the department gives a first warning before citation. Stanowitz said the department left some discretion for officers (for example, when higher-priority calls require response) but expects citations in many cases and confirmed that records of past violators exist in the department’s record system and can be queried.
The board also noted that the village’s scheduled public fireworks display will follow the June 27 parade at Meadowdale Park; the chief’s plan is separate from the village-produced show and targets illegal private fireworks uses that generate complaints and safety risks.
Next steps: trustees said staff will support the public-education effort ahead of summer holidays and monitor citation and call trends through the enforcement period.
