Cruisin’ Weekend Busy, Tame, Police Agencies Report

Cruisin’ Weekend Busy, Tame, Police Agencies Report
Cruisin

OCEAN CITY – Last week’s Cruisin’ event in and around the
resort sparked one of the busiest weekend of the season thus far for the Ocean
City Police Department (OCPD) and its allied agencies in the county, but while
hundreds of calls were handled over the four-day event, few were reported as
serious in nature.

While it certainly wasn’t a quiet week for locals or
visitors as well as the OCPD with an estimated 176,000 people in town and more
than 3,000 classic cars registered for the annual Cruisin’ event, not many
serious crimes were associated with the classic car show up and down the strip
in Ocean City. According to OCPD Chief Bernadette DiPino, the weekend was
extremely busy for her department, but safe.

“Our officers handled many calls, but very few were
serious in nature,” she said. “We worked closely with the Cruisin’ Ocean City
staff to prevent problems. With the help of the Maryland State Police and the
Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, I think we were successful in preventing
serious crime while keeping people safe.”

During the four-day event, police officers from the three
agencies made 90 arrests, handled 29 accidents and issued 1,176 citations. The
only injury reported was the result of a minor pedestrian collision.

According to OCPD statistical information for the weekend,
there were 524 traffic citations issued and 321 warnings handed out during the
Cruisin’ event. A total of 62 criminal arrests were made during the four-day
event and an additional 14 traffic arrests. Thirty-four alcohol-related
citations were doled out and nine municipal citations. A total of 25 parking
citations were issued and another 12 citations or warnings were handed out for
pedestrian-related violations.

The OCPD broke down the statistical information for the
weekend by day, and more precisely by time of day, and there were no real
surprises in the numbers. The two busiest shifts for the department were the
evening shifts on both Friday and Saturday when the cruisers are typically at
the peak of their activities. For example, during the evening shift on Friday,
28 traffic citations were issued and six criminal arrests were made. Similarly,
22 traffic citations were issued during the evening shift on Saturday with five
criminal arrests made. The day shift on Saturday was also busy with 40 traffic
citations issued and three criminal arrests made.

The
Worcester County Sheriff’s Office compiled its own statistics for the weekend
and the numbers came out as follows: 319 state traffic citations issued, 286
traffic warnings, 24 vehicle equipment repair orders and eight parking
citations.