SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Behave or don’t come — that’s the message from Jersey Shore mayors as the summer beach season kicks off this Memorial Day weekend.
At the start of the holiday weekend last year, a 15-year-old was stabbed during a large fight on the Ocean City boardwalk, and police issued about 1,300 warnings related to alcohol, marijuana and curfews. That same weekend, police in Wildwood had to shut down the boardwalk for a few hours due to large crowds of unruly teens.
In an effort to prevent that kind of unruly behavior again, shore town mayors are asking people to be on their best behavior, and they said troublemakers won’t be tolerated.
Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian and Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio issued a joint statement asking parents to be aware of what their kids are up to.
“Like many other Jersey Shore towns, Ocean City and Sea Isle City in recent years have experienced issues related to disorderly conduct by juveniles during the start of Memorial Day Weekend,” the statement reads. “Our police departments will be fully staffed with every available full-time and seasonal officer, and we will have zero tolerance for any disturbance or violation of the law. We also want to make it clear to parents that everybody will be held accountable for their actions to the fullest extent possible.”
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small said there will be extra officers on the boardwalk, and they will be sniffing out smokers.
“There will be zero tolerance with smoking — either cigarettes, cigars, particularly marijuana,” he said. “Our police officers will be on the lookout and we are going to enforce the law to the fullest extent.”
In Wildwood, officials are enforcing the 8 p.m. backpack ban again. Nobody is allowed to have a backpack or large bag on the beach or boardwalk after 8 p.m., an effort to stop people from carrying around drugs and alcohol.
The mayors said these rules are in place so that everyone can be safe and have fun.