Ocean City Police Chief William Campbell addresses the media in 2024 after the town had a tumultuous start to the Memorial Day weekend last year.
The mayors of Ocean City and Sea Isle City are warning potential troublemakers, “Don’t come if you don’t want to behave” this Memorial Day weekend.
Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian and Sea Isle Mayor Leonard Desiderio issued a joint statement Tuesday stressing that their towns will have “zero tolerance” for anyone breaking the law.
“We're looking forward to a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend, and we're ready to welcome back all of our residents, homeowners and guests for another great summer season. But we want to send a clear and simple message: Don't come if you don't want to behave,” they said.
Like other towns at the Jersey Shore, Ocean City and Sea Isle have experienced an outburst of public drinking, theft, fighting, vandalism and other crimes committed by groups of unruly teenagers and young people during the last few summers.
Ocean City’s summer season got off to a tumultuous start last year during a rowdy Friday night on Memorial Day weekend. Social media was filled with video and photos of teens getting into a fight on the Boardwalk that led to a stabbing.
Both towns announced in recent weeks that they will have a heavy police presence out on the Ocean City Boardwalk and Sea Isle’s Promenade, as well as other popular areas, to prevent trouble from breaking out during the pivotal summer tourism season starting Memorial Day weekend.
In their joint statement, Gillian and Desiderio repeated that police officers will be out patrolling in large numbers. They also said that parents will be held responsible for the actions of their children if they get into trouble.
“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. Please be aware of what your unsupervised teens may be walking into and help them stay out of trouble,” they said.
Sea Isle City police officers speak with tourists during the 2023 summer season. At the same time, Gillian and Desiderio expressed hope that the summer season at the shore will be a peaceful one this year.
“Let's all work together to make sure everybody can enjoy the holiday weekend and another awesome summer,” they said.
Since 2023, Ocean City has been closing the beaches at 8 p.m. to keep large groups of teens from holding rowdy parties. There is also an 11 p.m. curfew on minors. Ocean City also closes the Boardwalk bathrooms at 10 p.m. Ocean City Police Chief William Campbell said all of those crime-fighting measures will be in effect again this summer.
In 2023, Sea Isle responded to the rowdy behavior by approving a 10 p.m. curfew for juveniles under the age of 18. Generally, minors are not allowed out in public from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. under the curfew.
Sea Isle’s curfew makes exceptions for juveniles who are accompanied by adults, are going to or returning from their summer jobs or are participating in formal activities such as recreation programs.
Both Ocean City and Sea Isle also have backpack bans to prevent juveniles and adults from hiding alcohol, drugs, weapons or other contraband.
Sea Isle has a backpack ban, for juveniles and adults, on the beaches and Promenade after 10 p.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Ocean City bans backpacks on the Boardwalk from Memorial Day to Labor Day and the law applies to both adults and juveniles.
Other Jersey Shore towns, including Wildwood, have enacted their own curfews and backpack bans in recent years to crack down on troublemaking teens disrupting the summer tourism season.
Beaches are closed in Ocean City at 8 p.m. as part of the city's strategy to prevent trouble.
