OCEAN CITY – A decrease in calls for service highlighted a monthly report on police activity.
On Wednesday, Ocean City Police Department Chief Ross Buzzuro presented members of the town’s Police Commission with an update on police activity for the month of September.
Buzzuro noted that the department reported a significant decrease in calls for service compared to September 2019 and September 2020.
“You can see there was a fairly significant decrease in calls for service, starting with officer calls, which were reduced by more than 1,000 from September of 2019 to September of 2021 …,” he said. “The better gauge is the 2019 gauge.”
Buzzuro added that citizen calls for service had decreased by 400. And in the top 25 calls for service, traffic stops had decreased by more than 700, disorderly calls had decreased by 360 and citizen assists had decreased by 148, when compared to September 2019.
“Within the first 10, every line item there has been a reduction [in calls],” he said.
Under September enforcement, custodial arrests decreased from 293 in 2019 to 278 in 2021, drug arrests increased from 14 in 2019 to 21 in 2021, and drug citations (marijuana) had decreased from 39 in 2019 to 20 in 2021. While weapons arrests had increased from 12 in 2019 to 30 in 2021, Buzzuro noted it was an improvement from 2020, which had a reported 40 weapons arrests.
“We know we are moving in the right direction,” Buzzuro told commission members.
Officials on Wednesday also received an update on last weekend’s Endless Summer Cruisin car show. The four-day event kicked off last Thursday with hot rods, classics, customs and more making their way to Ocean City.
“It was relatively a non-event,” Buzzuro said. “I think everyone had a good, positive experience in Ocean City. From a public safety aspect, we faired very, very well. There were minimal incidents throughout town the entire weekend.”