City Manager Doug Miller reported after a closed session this week there were six specific areas of focus Ocean City officials are considering when the H2Oi crowd returns next year. He said future meetings will also tackle legislation for a tougher special event zone.
While we support adding some teeth to the special enforcement zone, particularly the addition of enhanced fines for reckless and negligent driving, what takes place in the legislature next year will not have a major impact here. In fact, it will most likely exacerbate the issues, enraging these motorists even more once they are ticketed.
Nonetheless, the enhanced special event zone should get passed. Partisan politics doomed it earlier this year. After seeing the disastrous weekend in Ocean City, state legislators must look past partisan issues this year. It’s wrong, however, to say the legislature is to blame for last month’s mess because it failed to pass a bill.
The tougher special event zone is just one piece. Its’ effectiveness can be debated, but the only true answer is leveling the field between law enforcement and the hundreds of visitors (or maybe thousands) intent on wreaking havoc in town. Police had no chance last month, despite a tremendous effort. The local allied forces were simply outnumbered, resulting in numerous incidents taking place without repercussions.
Police were constantly on the reactive when a more proactive stance is the best measure. Under current deployments and manpower, it was impossible to truly carryout a proactive effort. The Saturday rolling police barricade involving vehicles with lights illuminated only incited the troublemakers. It appeared to some to be an act of desperate flexing of manpower when the rowdy miscreants knew there was no chance police could catch them all doing burnouts, littering, causing fights and shooting off fireworks from sidewalks all over town. The deviants were emboldened rather than worried.
In the days after the troublesome weekend, Ocean City officials repeatedly said all options will be considered. A state of emergency, which would shutter the town in effect, could be under evaluation. We do not believe Ocean City should lose an entire weekend of revenue.
It’s time for extreme measures, but we encourage restraint as well. It’s obvious the current approach has not worked, and new policies and strategies are needed. We think the key piece is bringing in more law enforcement in an official and undercover fashion to address the inevitable onslaught that will come next September. It’s no easy task, but officials have a year to figure out how to get the additional resources here.
