Remember the Sherlock Holmes story about the dog that didn’t bark in the dark? That’s what happened to the citizens of Oakland on July 4, and boy, are we grateful.

Every year, my neighbors and I look forward to Independence Day with dread. We’re just as patriotic as the next person, so it’s not the celebration we object to. It’s the fireworks.

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Snapp Shots: Oakland woman starts group to help the ‘houseless’ I’m not talking about sparklers, firecrackers, or even cherry bombs. I’m talking about rockets and mortars, the heavy-duty industrial-strength stuff that’s illegal for anyone but trained professionals to use. And it’s not professionals who use them in my neighborhood. It’s gangs of rowdy drunks, sometimes hundreds strong, gathering at selected intersections and setting them off, often in tandem with sideshows.

I can’t begin to describe how scary this is. It feels like you’re in the middle of a war zone, and I’m not exaggerating. A couple of my neighbors are Army veterans, and they say it feels like they’re right back in Iraq. It doesn’t sound like firecrackers; it’s like bombs are being detonated right outside your front door. Your house rattles and shakes, and it goes on and on for hours until you feel completely trapped.

The cats hide under the bed and tremble in fear, and it’s even worse for the dogs, who bolt for the nearest open door or window and escape into the night; and many never come back, having raced into the street in a panic and gotten hit by a car. It’s no picnic for the humans, either. Little kids cry and beg their moms to make it stop. Worst of all, it’s only a matter of time before someone starts a fire that sweeps through the city, especially with the summers getting hotter and dryer as a result of climate change.

But none of that happened this July 4. Yes, there were fireworks, but it was only the pop-pop-pop of firecrackers, not World War III. My neighbors and I looked at each other in amazement, wondering what happened. The answer, as it turned out, is that the Oakland Police Department had had enough and really lowered the boom, if you’ll pardon the expression. Without any fanfare — they probably didn’t want to alert the bad guys — they pulled as many cops as possible off nonessential duties and put them out in the field.

Officers stopped people setting off illegal explosions, issued citations and confiscated their fireworks. People shooting guns in the air — didn’t anybody tell these morons that what goes up must come down? — were arrested and their guns confiscated. People taking part in sideshows were issued citations and their vehicles towed.

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Snapp Shots: Oakland woman starts group to help the ‘houseless’ The climax came at 11:38 p.m., when the California Highway Patrol asked Oakland police to help them bust a massive sideshow, involving more than 200 people near 42nd Avenue and Interstate 880. All told, 12 people were arrested; 17 cars were towed; 100 citations were issued for vehicle code violations; 77 more were issued for fireworks violations; more than 200 pounds of fireworks were confiscated; and nine firearms were seized.

And the citizens of Oakland, for once, did not live in fear on the night of July 4. If it isn’t presumptuous, permit me to speak for all of them and say to the Oakland Police Department: Thank you, thank you, thank you! How about an encore next year?

Reach Martin Snapp at catman442@comcast.net.