OCEAN CITY — The Inlet parking lot will be getting a workout throughout the month of March with the Ocean City Police Department conducting extensive SUV training for its officers after the Mayor and Council approved the proposal.
OCPD Chief Ross Buzzuro and Lieutenant Todd Wood came before the Mayor and Council on Feb. 16 to request permission to exclusively use the Inlet parking lot for three different Monday to Thursday training sessions during the month of March. Buzzuro said the training is now necessary because of the increased use of SUVs by the department and there is no other location large enough within the resort to conduct it.
“Roughly 50 percent of our personnel are now operating SUVs on the road,” he said. “There has never been any official training. The dynamics and handling of the SUVs is much different than a traditional sedan and it behooves us to have this training.”
The training will include setting up a serpentine course on the Inlet parking lot with roughly 150 cones. The SUV training will be held in three starting Tuesday, March 8 at midnight to 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 10. The OCPD will follow the same schedule on each of the ensuing weeks, including March 15 to March 17, and March 22 to March 24. Wood, who is one of only two instructors on the entire Eastern Shore certified to teach the SUV training course will lead the OCPD sessions.
Buzzuro said the department was cognizant of the increased use of the Inlet lot as it gets closer to spring, but the schedule was set up in such a way as to minimize the impact. As a result, while the Inlet lot will be closed to public traffic from Tuesday to Thursday in each of the testing weeks, it will remain fully operational during the weekends from Thursday through Monday. Buzzuro said scheduling the training during the weeks in March was the best window of opportunity.
“The reason we couldn’t get the training done earlier was the potential for inclement weather,” he said. “We need a large area and we can get out on the Inlet lot and getting the training done with a minimum of disruption with without losing any revenue from the lot.”
Buzzuro said the second part of the training would be completed at the Ocean City Municipal Airport and would involve straight driving training. The good news is, the required training will take place within the confines of the resort and won’t require the OCPD officers to travel a great distance to complete it.
“There will be 15 to 20 officers per session and the good thing is, they will all be right here in Ocean City and not be somewhere else for the training,” he said.
Because the SUV training course would be extensive, it would not be taken down after each session, which is the reason for the Tuesday to Thursday schedule.
“The Inlet lot would be closed from around midnight on Monday each week to around 1 p.m. on Thursday,” he said. “We won’t break the training course down and put it back up each day because it would be a huge undertaking with 150 cones.”
The Public Works Department will post signs in the downtown area during each of the training session weeks to inform the public of the Inlet lot closures. While the Inlet lot will not be accessible to the public during the training sessions, the town’s municipal lots at Worcester Street, Dorchester Street, North Division Street and 4th Street will be open and fully operational, allowing for ample public parking in the downtown area during the closure times.
