OCEAN CITY — Fostering a working relationship between law enforcement and the private sector on motorized special events was one of the pillars of the task force recommendations. and some potential solutions were presented on Thursday.
After particularly troublesome events last year in the spring and fall, Mayor Rick Meehan formed a task force comprised of members from all segments of the community to begin addressing some of the issues. Out of those early discussions came several recommendations including possible legislation creating special event enforcement zones, having the promoters attempt to spread activities out over larger areas outside of town and a better working relationship between the private sector and law enforcement, among others.
On Thursday, the Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum in conjunction with the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) and other stakeholders to begin addressing the latter. While the OCPD and its allied law enforcement agencies enforce the laws on public property, much of the illicit activity associated with the motorized special events starts and ends on private property with crowds lining the streets and encouraging illegal behavior.
At the outset of Thursday’s forum, Mayor Rich Meehan told the assembled group of a couple dozen business owners and other stakeholders real solutions would only likely come through a good working relationship between the public and private sectors.
“These events are important for the town and important for the business community, but they have brought some problems,” he said. “We want them to be safe, but right now, they’re bringing some challenges. One of the recommendations from the task force was for the police department to work with the business community. Everybody has to be in on this. We all have something to gain and we all have something to lose.”
OCPD Public Information Officer Lindsay Richard echoed the mayor’s sentiments.
“This is all about partnerships,” she said. “You all know how bad some of these events can get and you know how best to run your properties. By working together on some of these things, we can make the events better for everybody.”
OCPD Captain Mike Colbert said the department wasn’t looking for the private sector business owners to do their own policing, but rather be extra eyes and ears for law enforcement and take some steps to help make the job easier.
“Our big mission is we’re not trying to tell anyone how to run their business,” he said. “These are suggestions that allow the people in this room to help with some of these issues. There are a lot of things we can do on public property, but there are fewer things we can do on private property. That’s where we’re asking for your help.”
OCPD Lieutenant Ray Austin began a presentation outlining some of the ways the private sector business community can help. It is widely known a small percentage of the attendees at the special events cause most of the problems, a point Austin hammered home on Tuesday.
“We like to refer to the 80-20 rule,” he said. “Eighty percent of the people want to comply, and they will do so voluntarily. It’s the other 20 percent we’re talking about here. That 20 percent just does not want to listen.”
Austin urged the business community to have a designee, or point person so to speak, on their properties during the events to act as a liaison for the OCPD and its allied partners.
“What we’re looking for is a business owner or designee to be a decision maker,” he said. “You can ask somebody to stop whatever behavior is unacceptable and again, that 80 percent will likely comply. It’s that other 20 percent that don’t comply and that’s where you can help. We’re not asking you to engage that 20 percent, but you can be a good witness. If they don’t comply after you’ve asked them nicely, then that’s where we can come in.”
Colbert used the 80-percent figure in a different way to illustrate the point.
“Eighty percent of our problem is groups of people on the side of the road on private property encouraging bad behavior,” said Colbert. “People stand on private property encouraging drivers to commit traffic violations. We see a lot of that. We also see them standing on private property and dumping substances on the roadway to promote burnouts and other activities.”
Colbert said while the OCPD can enforce disorderly conduct, for example, trespassing is likely the best tool to use for some of the problems on private property.
“We can use trespassing for a lot of this, but we need a designee to tell us they don’t want them on private property,” he said. “Then, we can make an arrest if they don’t comply. A disorderly conduct violation but just be a criminal citation. If it’s trespassing, we can make an arrest, but we need a designee to tell us they don’t want somebody on their property.”
A considerable amount of the issues associated with the motorized events take place on private property as well.
“We see a lot of serious traffic violations on private property in parking lots,” he said. “You can help by safely identifying the driver or getting a license plate number. Again, we’re asking the business community to do that safely without confrontation. Gather what information you can and call the police and we’ll handle it.”
Austin explained a new initiative called the Trespass Enforcement Authorization Program, or TEAP, which the OCPD learned from Myrtle Beach when it was experiencing similar problems. Essentially, TEAP would allow police officers to be the resident agents of sorts on private properties that are closed for business at night during some of the special events. Without mentioning the names of the businesses, Austin pointed out the example of a 24-hour convenience store that draws a lot of activity during a special event right next to a major chain pharmacy that has closed for the night. He said the pharmacy parking lot gets ravaged because the business is closed and there are no employees or designees on site.
“TEAP is an agreement allowing the police department to act as your agent when the business is closed,” he said. “The business doesn’t want cars on the lot or people congregating on the lot when it’s closed, and this allows us to go in and make trespassing arrests.”
Colbert provided another example where TEAP can be a useful enforcement tool.
“Right now, another good example is a bank parking lot,” he said. “The bank is closed, but there are four or five cars parked there and there are people congregating and egging them on and we can’t do anything about it. That’s where TEAP comes in. It doesn’t necessarily work for hotels and condos, because people are coming and going and are allowed to be there. It really works with restaurants or retail businesses that are that close after hours.”
The OCPD also urged hotels and motels to keep accurate records on the tenants allowed on the property including photos of licenses and IDs that could help police determine who and who is not allowed on the property. He cited the example of one hotel that learned through social media that 50 people were coming to a party in one of the rooms. Because the hotel had accurate information on who had rented the rooms, everyone else could be told to leave or be arrested for trespassing.
Colbert also explained the importance of working video surveillance systems on private property. He explained the town was in the process of expanding its city-wide video surveillance systems, but the cameras on private property have become invaluable.
“I’ve been an Ocean City police officer for 30 years and the amount of reliance we have now on video is absolutely amazing,” he said. “We had an incident last fall when one of our officers was struck by a vehicle and it was caught on three different cameras. It’s invaluable, but they have to be functioning and in good working order.”
OCPD Chief Ross Buzzuro reiterated the importance of good working video surveillance systems.
“You need to do your part to make sure the cameras are operational,” he said. “We know there is an expense associated with that and not everybody will be able to do it. We’ve had examples where a crime has occurred and we’ve missed opportunities because the cameras weren’t functioning.”
Cole Taustin of The Embers restaurant and associated businesses pointed out much of what had been presented represented common sense that could be applied throughout the summer season and not just during the motorized events. He said his company keeps its vast property well illuminated into the early morning hours and it has helped curtail illegal activity.
Colbert agreed keeping private properties well lit does deter crime and makes the police department’s job easier.
“Leave the lights on at night,” he said. “I know there is a cost associated with that, but it could end up being cheaper than the alternative.”
