Officials Discuss Police Service Fees For Special Events

OCEAN CITY — Resort officials have renewed a debate about charging promoters of special events in Ocean City some sort of fee when extra law enforcement resources are needed to accommodate them.

During a meeting last month, the Mayor and Council debated the need for additional Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers and resources needed to accommodate many of the weekend special events. At that time, the debate largely focused on the stress some of the special events cause for an already over-taxed police department forced to work overtime on weekends at the expense of leave, vacation and other quality of life issues.

At Tuesday’s Recreation and Parks Committee meeting, the debate was briefly renewed again, although the concern was more from a financial standpoint than any quality of life issues for police officers. The issue arose again during a review of some of the proposed tweaks to the resort’s Return on Investment (ROI) policy. Last year, in the interest of gaining a better understanding of just how much special events mean to the town in terms of the costs associated with supporting them versus the revenue gained, the Mayor and Council approved a Return on Investment (ROI) policy.

The ROI policy is attached to special event permit request forms and provides recommendations to the Mayor and Council on whether to approve the events, and whether to provide financial assistance or relief from some of the fees associated with the approvals. Special events, large and small, are required to fill out an expanded approval request form and provide detailed information on the projected number of attendees, how many are expected to stay overnight, what support they need from the town, either in-kind or financial and if they are for-profit or non-profit organizations.

The ROI policy proved useful at the outset of its implementation, but needed some tweaking and revision. Special Events Director Frank Miller provided an update on the proposed revisions to the ROI policy to the Recreation and Parks Committee on Tuesday. Out of that discussion came a renewed debate about the cost of providing additional police resources during special events.

Certainly, many of the motorized special events require additional police manpower and even assistance from outside law enforcement agencies, as witnessed by the recent unsanctioned H2Oi and Endless Summer Cruisin’ events. But even tamer events such as the upcoming Seaside 10 race and the Island to Island Half Marathon in the spring require additional OCPD resources to help with traffic control and safety, for example.

It was the latter that sparked the debate at the Mayor and Council level last month. This week, Councilman and Recreation and Parks Committee Chair Wayne Hartman asked if there were any provisions in the revised ROI policy to require, or at least encourage, special event promoters to provide extra security at their own expense.

“We’ve had some concerns over the amount of police needed for some of the special events,” he said. “Can we put something in here to encourage promoters to use outside security for things like traffic control?”

Council President and committee member Lloyd Martin said there were likely times when private security could handle traffic details associated with some events, but other times when sworn law enforcement officers were needed. Martin said if an event didn’t require any additional police resources other than what was already scheduled, there probably shouldn’t be an fees for promoters, but if extra police resources were needed, it should be something to consider.

“I think there are some things the police department doesn’t want to let go of, just like there are things the police department would gladly let go of,” he said. “When there are events we have officers out there anyway and no extra resources are needed, there hasn’t been a fee for that. If extra police resources are required, there should be a cost associated with that.”

Although it is somewhat an apples to oranges comparison, Councilman and committee member John Gehrig pointed out some major tourist destinations force special event promoters to provide significant private security at their own expense. He pointed to the tragic incident in Las Vegas two weeks ago as an example.

“I know in Las Vegas they require promoters to provide private security for some special events,” he said. “Their events are a little different than what we have here, but I think they require one security officer for every 1,000 attendees. I don’t know if that applies here, but with what happened in Vegas last week, it might be something to at least consider.”

Hartman said somewhat tongue-in-cheek a similar requirement based on the number of attendees in Ocean City could curtail some promoters from falsely pumping up their attendance numbers if there was a formula for providing and paying for private security based on anticipated attendance.

“That would certainly prevent some promoters from overstating their numbers,” he said. “We have people bringing in events to Ocean City that claim they are attracting 600,000 people.”

About The Author: Shawn Soper

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Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.