The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released statistics from the Hollister Freedom Rally weekend. The Hollister Police Department expects to release statistics as well.
The following is the announcement from the sheriff’s office:
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office increased staffing in anticipation of the influx of people coming into our county for the 4th of July holiday, and the City of Hollister’s rally. Due to our low staffing levels, it was necessary to bring deputies in on overtime to protect the community we serve in the unincorporated parts of San Benito County as well as the City of San Juan Bautista.
The total amount of overtime hours expended during this holiday weekend was 75 hours for patrol deputies, 142 hours for Correctional Deputies, and 44 hours for reserve deputies. Both Friday and Saturday nights, we placed undercover deputies in unmarked cars to assist the Hollister Fire Department in the detection and enforcement of fireworks violations. From 7/3-7/5, San Benito County Deputies were involved in 214 activities that included 93 traffic stops, 20 citations, and 101 miscellaneous calls for service. The traffic stops were a result of our directed enforcement aimed to make the county roads safer during the higher volume of traffic.
Our patrol deputies also supported the Hollister Fire Department by responding to 7 calls for illegal fireworks. Deputies also responded to 5 calls for large parties in the unincorporated county area.
Our patrol deputies made 11 arrests for various charges, and cited 7 people for possession of illegal fireworks to include a mortar and 26 “bricks” of firecrackers. Our jail was busy too, handling 41 total bookings over the three-day weekend.
