MIAMI (AP), Authorities say that South Beach's party scene will see a significant increase in police presence and tougher enforcement of crime and raucous crowds, just weeks after a tourist was shot and killed at a Miami Beach restaurant.
Alina Hudak, City Manager of the city, stated Friday that it is unacceptable to tolerate years of troubled incidents in this area. She also announced plans to establish the highest level of police presence in the area.
Dan Gelber, Miami Beach Mayor, ordered that police and fire rescue, parking, sanitation, and other departments devise a common strategy to handle the crowds. According to the memo, police assigned an average of 40 officers patrolling South Beach streets to improve visibility, not only on weekends and nights, but throughout the day.
Gelber stated in a video Friday that ten officers from the county will be added to South Beach duty every weekend for the remainder of the year.
On holiday weekends, the beach-front party scene has seen an increase in out-of control partygoers. After spring breakers gathered by the thousands in the streets, fighting broke out and destroyed restaurants, the city instituted a strict 8 p.m. curfew. Police said that more than 1,000 people were detained, many of them from outside the city.
Hudak stated, "It's no longer enough to treat what was historically defined as high-impact periods as anomalies when every Saturday brings significant crowds of people and challenges."
To prevent overcrowding, additional code officers and park rangers are assigned to enforce the ordinances. Hudak stated in the memo, that visitors to the area have shown a disregard for human life and public property. This creates a threat to the safety of the public year round.
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Gelber stated that more than half the 1,600 arrests made in 2021 were made in the entertainment district. This is where speeding, fights, and gun violence are commonplace. More than 500 guns were seized by the city this year, and 870 surveillance cameras are now in operation.
The mayor stated that every few days I call a police officer who is injured in the line-of-duty. Few cities have to face such challenges and ask for as much from police officers.
This crackdown comes less two weeks after a deadly tourist attack in which a gunman killed a 21-year old father while he was eating dinner with his family.
According to an arrest report, Tamarius Davis, twenty-two years old, told investigators that he shot Dustin Wakefield because he was high in mushrooms. This made him feel powerful.
Fearful residents have been urging the mayor to act since then. Although Wakefield was killed at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the mayor said that the world did not hear about the stabbings earlier in the week or the numerous early morning shootings.
Gelber stated that we can't, and will not, accept this as our normal.
He said that the increased police presence in the area was not sustainable and suggested that the party district be rezoned to include fewer bars and clubs, more residential development and more office buildings.
Gelber also calls for an earlier curfew to prevent alcohol sales.
The entertainment district we call has been a magnet for crime and disorder, and the mayor stated that whatever revenue it brings in is not worth the pain.
