By Maddy Vitale
Sea Isle City Police Chief Tom McQuillen and his department put a new safety system to the test at the Halloween Parade, and called it a success.
While it seems like a simple concept, cones and ropes were installed to keep excited children out of the roadway when gathering candies thrown by parade participants.
“Overall, the reviews were very positive,” McQuillen said Saturday in an interview. “There were some initial inquiries about whether the kids would see the ropes.”
The ropes and 36-inch-high cones lined the entire parade route Friday night along Landis Avenue from 47th Street to John F. Kennedy Boulevard, six blocks in all. Some children abided by the ropes, while others went underneath them for their candy.
McQuillen said anytime there is a change, people have to get used to the concept. The reason for having the ropes and cones along the parade route is to make sure parents and their children have safe fun.
“You are talking about a street with a bit of traffic,” McQuillen said of JFK Boulevard and Landis Avenue. “Even when the parade is going on, there are still vehicles going down the road. The kids are so excited to get their candy, we wanted to enact measures so that they can do it safely.”
Fire trucks and large floats traveled down the route. While they are going slow, if a child ventures out a bit too far for some candy tossed by a parade participant, it could create a dangerous situation, the police chief noted.
“We want to do everything in our power to make sure that everyone is safe,” McQuillen added.
One of the things that were discussed, ahead of the idea of cones and ropes, was to have participants hand, rather than toss candies to the crowd. Ocean City is one such community that uses the ropes as well as handles treat-giving that way during parades, McQuillen said.
McQuillen said Traffic Maintenance Supervisor Brian Teefy came up with the idea for the safety system along with other members of his department, Matt Steelman and Jimmy Lane. Mayor Leonard Desiderio and City Council agreed it was an excellent idea, passing a resolution to provide about $9,300 in funding for the items.
McQuillen said improvements are in the works, just in time to use the safety system for the upcoming holiday parade.
“We want to have more officers patrolling both sides of the street on bikes. We also want to work on tightening and strengthening the ropes so there is not as much give,” he added.
Other future uses for the equipment will be to rope off areas where city employees are doing work on road and maintenance projects. McQuillen also said the police department would like to deploy the equipment around areas when there are flooding events.
“Everything we do is with an eye toward increasing public safety,” he said of the new safety system. “This is just another step in that process.”
