Everyone who set off a firecracker, bottle rocket or M-80 in Colorado Springs to celebrate the nation’s independence during last weekend’s Fourth of July holiday broke the law.

They all got off scot-free, although, that wouldn’t have been true if it had been up to firefighters who had to put out three dozen fires blamed on fireworks or neighbors annoyed at losing sleep.

Except police had a lot more to worry about than illegal fireworks on a busy holiday weekend:

• On July 3 police received 1,566 calls for service, of which 918 could be handled by a single officer without backup.

• On July 4, police received 1,630 calls for service, of which 835 could be handled by a lone officer.

• On July 5, police received 1,444 calls for service, with 800 requiring only one officer.

Of the 4,640 calls over the three-day holiday, 135 were fireworks complaints, police spokesman Sgt. Darrin Abbink said.

“If we had enough officers and we had the ability to put enough officers on the street to be able to deal with those kinds of calls, certainly we would (handle more fireworks complaints),” he said. “Would we write more tickets? I don’t know that we would.”

Fireworks complaints, according to a directive issued each year to officers, are a low priority and responding to them and ticketing revelers is entirely at the officer’s discretion.

It’s a policy the police department says is necessary because of the huge number of calls they have to answer and the limited number of officers on patrol.

It also angers residents who fear fireworks will start fires that damage their homes and property and question why have a law on the books that is not enforced.

“Every year the idiots and/or drunks in my neighborhood shoot off illegal fireworks,” wrote one reader commenting on a story that ran before the holiday on the lack of enforcement. “And every year they always cause damage other people’s houses, vehicles, and landscaping. There is no way to prove they did the damage, so they don’t have to pay for the repairs, the insurance deductibles, or the higher insurance premiums.”

Fireworks are believed to have started 36 fires —  structures, cars, large trash bins, grass — over the weekend, according to the Colorado Springs Fire Department. Two of those involved fireworks set off in apartment complex hallways.

“We should not have had any firework-related calls,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Keith Buckmiller Buckmiller blames the fires on fireworks stands that take advantage of El Paso County’s less restrictive laws and set up booths along the city’s borders and in enclaves rather than on a lack of enforcement.

“Someone sets off a firework, it goes for about 8 seconds and people move on,” he said of the difficulty catching anyone in the act. “The only person left is the victim of the property that might have burned.”

City council members seem to agree with the Police Department’s fireworks enforcement policy, with some saying the ban should be done away with.

Several years ago, Councilman Tom Gallagher and fellow city Councilman Darryl Glenn tried unsuccessfully to repeal the ban, arguing that fires are started by legal activities as well such as discarded cigarettes or barbecues.

“The vast majority of people are reasonable people,” Gallagher said. “I’m tired of legislating to the exception.”

City Councilman Larry Small said he thinks the ban is needed because of the danger of fire, particularly where homes abut forest or grasslands. Having the ordinance serves as a deterrent, he said.

Councilman Randy Purvis said he usually receives a few complaints a year. Police have the ordinance in their back pockets in case there is an “extraordinary event,” he said. But, with fireworks being sold in the county, Purvis sees no practical way of enforcing a ban.

The Police Department’s selective enforcement of the fireworks ban could provide a window into the immediate future. With potential budget cuts coming as the city works through the 2011 budget, police may have to add to their list of ordinances and laws they don’t actively enforce.

As long as discrimination doesn’t come into play in those decisions, police legally have a lot of wiggle room in shaping enforcement policy, said Alan Chen, professor at the University of Denver Law School.

“What is legal may sometimes be different from how that selective enforcement is perceived by the community or, for that matter, by the lawmakers who enacted the ban on fireworks in the first place, who may feel that their law-making decision has been nullified,” Chen said. “This can affect the public’s view of the police department’s legitimacy and ultimately lead to political repercussions, if not legal ones.”

Gazette writer Jakob Rodgers contributed to this report.

Jack Fuller, 5, watched the fireworks from the shore of Prospect Lake at Memorial Park on July 4, 2006. Photo by THE GAZETTE FILE

KRISTIN GOODE