By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press
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WASHINGTON — Thirty shot, two fatally, at a block party in Baltimore. At least three killed and 10 wounded at an annual July Fourth bash in Louisiana. A 7-year-old shot dead in Tampa after two groups gathered along a causeway for Independence Day started to fight. Nine others injured when bullets are sprayed from a car in the nation’s capital.

A rash of shootings as the U.S. celebrated the Fourth of July is spiking fears in communities across the country and highlighting the challenges police face in preventing such violence as temperatures warm and festivities move outside. Policing such events is a delicate balance for law enforcement, who must weigh the right of revelers to gather with the threat of violence that looms in public and private spaces in a nation awash with guns.

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“In many ways, their hands are tied because these types of events are often on private property and people may not do anything to violate the law until someone brandishes a firearm and starts shooting,” said Tom Nolan, who was a Boston police officer for nearly three decades. “So can the police do anything to prevent that? I just think it’s an extraordinary challenge for them to be all places at all times and anticipate things that none of us are expecting.”

Violence often surges in the summer months, when teens are out of school and there are more social events that can quickly turn deadly when tempers flare. Curfews for young people and increased police presence on the streets are among the strategies cities have historically used to try to combat summer violence.

Police can prepare for parades and other large annual events by monitoring social media chatter ahead of time, requiring a law enforcement presence for permitted events and changing up their coverage plans depending on how many people are expected when. Ideally, police work with communities who want the protection.

But it’s impossible for law enforcement to monitor every block party or holiday gathering. Vacations can also lead to police departments being thinly staffed over holiday weekends and summer months, which means calls for loud music and other disturbances can get backed up while police deal with more pressing matters, Nolan said.

“During the time when their services are most in demand, they are stretched far more thinly than they would like to publicly admit,” said Nolan, who was a shift commander in the patrol division.