The public, apparently fed up with illegal fireworks activity, made more complaints to police in December, said Honolulu Police Department Assistant Chief Alan Bluemke.

He made his comments Monday, after police saw a spike in fireworks-related calls last month, and illegal aerials exploded in large numbers across Oahu during the New Year’s celebration, despite a city law that bans everything but firecrackers.

In December police received 2,600 calls about illegal fireworks, and in a 24-hour period that ended at 5 a.m. New Year’s Day, police received 862 fireworks-related calls. By comparison, police handled about 970 calls for illegal fireworks for all of 2014.

Bluemke said the spike in calls signified possibly more illegal fireworks activity across the island as well as frustrated residents taking action.

He said police were busier as well, making arrests and citations for fireworks. Police issued 151 citations for fireworks violations in December, more than double the number in 2014 (62) and in 2013 (60). About 40 percent, or 59 of the citations, were for setting off aerials.

Police also arrested five people — two adults and three children — for fireworks violations, compared with no arrests in 2014. Two of the juveniles were arrested for setting off fireworks.

He said police will probably start undercover operations earlier this year, possibly in September or October, to locate distributors of illegal fireworks and aerials.

Police disrupted one allegedly illegal operation Wednesday when they recovered 2,200 pounds of banned fireworks in Waipahu, using information from a CrimeStoppers tip. Officers cited two men in connection with the cache, and the next day, one of the men was arrested after officers found him again possessing illegal fireworks, Bluemke said.

Felony charges are pending in connection with the 2,200-pound cache, Bluemke said. In total, police confiscated about 2,800 pounds of illegal fireworks around the island.

Plainclothes officers also went out to check on vendors and make sure they were selling legal fireworks and only to those with permits.

Despite the high number of calls, enforcing fireworks laws remains a challenge because officers need to witness someone setting off an illegal firework, or a witness has to make a statement. But some callers, Bluemke said, have been willing to make a statement.

“That’s what we were asking for,” Bluemke said. “That’s what it’s all about. I think the public was kind of getting fed up with the amount of aerials and booms.”