Drinking Ban, Polite Crowds Add Up to Fewer Arrests at Beaches

A new drinking ban combined with unexpectedly well-behaved crowds produced fewer arrests at San Diego beaches during the weeklong spring break vacation, San Diego Police Department spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Traditionally, the number of arrests rises at local beaches during the two-week period that ends with Easter, as thousands of students on vacation from school converge on the city.

This year, the San Diego Police Department’s beach patrol arrested 118 adults and 11 juveniles, issued 438 misdemeanor citations and 561 traffic tickets, Robinson said.

In all, there were 1,261 police contacts made at the beaches during spring break. The police contacts included arrests, tickets and people asking for help, Robinson said.

He said that while the statistics are fairly consistent with last year, the number of arrests were down from a year ago.

Word Got Out About Ban

“We noticed that there were fewer arrests made Easter weekend than the weekend before because the word had got around at the beaches that the drinking bans would be enforced,” Robinson said.

“This year we had the drinking ban in the parking lot that we did not have last year,” he said. “The majority of the people are complying and that is its purpose.”

Robinson said the main reason the number of arrests dropped was because people behaved.

“Generally we were pleased with the behavior of the crowds. This indicates to us that the people are observing the laws more,” Robinson said. “Although we did get more traffic citations than we expected, that can be attributed to the good weather and the larger-than-expected crowds.”

The beach patrol, which consisted of 24 San Diego police officers, were aided by mounted police units and reserves. The spring break operation ran from March 23 to April 3.

Rescues Were Up

While the numbers of arrests made at San Diego beaches declined, attendance and lifeguard rescues were up.

The city lifeguard service reported that more than 340,000 people visited local beaches during the two-week period, and 220 rescues were made--102 of them on Sunday. Two of those rescued required hospitalization but no fatalities were reported.

“Most of the rescues occurred in rip current areas,” San Diego city lifeguard Wally Buckingham said. “In the spring, the bottom of the ocean is uneven until June, when the south swell will bring sand and fill in the contours of the ocean floor. Hopefully we will have a safe summer.”

Buckingham said that the crowds at the beach were larger than normal because of the good weather.

“We had a really warm spring break, which was kind of unusual,” he said. “Last year it was kind of cool and dry during spring break. This year it was really hot and lots of people showed up.”