With New Year’s Day approaching, the Selma Police Department is reminding the community to celebrate safely.

The department advised the public Tuesday to avoid firing celebratory gunshots, which commonly happens on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July.

It’s against the city’s ordinance to discharge a firearm within Selma’s city limits, according to Selma Chief of Police William Riley.

“We always encourage people to stop doing that because a bullet has to come down,” Riley said. “People can get injured. There could be property damage.”

According to a previous a Times-Journal article, the Selma officials responded to 15 shots fired calls on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in 2013, and Riley said more, unreported incidents occurred.

The Selma Police Department responds to each reported shots fired call it receives to the best of its ability.

“If we’ve got a complainant, we’ll talk to the complainant and definitely take a report,” Riley said. “We’ll just respond to it the best way that we can, and check the area.”

The offense can lead to an arrest and jail time, Riley said.

“Depending on what you do with it, like pointing it at somebody in a threatening manner, you could end up in jail,” he said.

Riley said Selma has been very fortunate to not have any reported injuries tied to celebratory gunfire, as far as he can remember. The chief said he’s hoping people will start to think before they act.

“Its’ just something that people really need to take a look at and really think about before they start shooting these rounds in the air, because it’s just too dangerous,” Riley said.