We agree with Ocean City Council and the Ocean City Police Department that something has to be done to deal with the rowdy bicyclists in Ocean City.
This phenomenon is not just limited to this resort. People in other communities are reporting the same kind of bad behavior – including groups of kids riding their bicycles into traffic and being reckless, causing a hazard to motorists while putting themselves in harm’s way.
In Ocean City the problem also extends to the boardwalk. Obviously, the police department needs to find a way to effectively deal with the problem.
What isn’t needed is to treat these youngsters as Public Enemy No. 1.
The language describing some of these young people and their activities was overblown. It’s not as if these young people are waving guns, robbing stores and attacking pedestrians with their bikes.
Part of the heightened rhetoric is that some people are conflating two issues – the bicycle riders with the recent arrests of three juvenile girls involved in the alleged assault of another girl on the boardwalk.
Assault is one thing. Irresponsible and dangerous bike riding is another. Same thing with rowdy juveniles at community parks.
Gregory Johnson, a former member of City Council, called on City Council to temper the rhetoric, saying parents and young people said members of council called them gangs and thugs.
“I said, ‘I think it’s time for me to come to see how we can help.’ I don’t think it’s right or fair to put labels on our kids, or to put our city in the spotlight, saying we have gangs and thugs,” he said.
“Our kids in Ocean City love this place,” Johnson said. “We worked very hard to give them a nice school, a nice community, a nice skateboard park, and I believe every one of you up there love our kids in this community.”
He called for a community meeting to discuss the bicycle issue. (See related story)
“We work together to address issues in Ocean City. And we do not label our kids,” he said.
Other speakers went further at last week’s council meeting.
“You have no idea what some of these adults are saying they’re going to do to our children,” resident Sarah Gaddy said about social media posts on the issue, including ones that adults should shoot the young people or run them over.
“She’s saying ‘take matters into your own hands,’” she said. “My kids are not perfect, but they don’t deserve this.”
“They look at the news and see nothing but police brutality against kids,” resident Ashley Boyer said at the meeting. “And then I come here and hear how you guys are talking about children. I get that they’re being disruptive and right is right and wrong is wrong. But at the same time, this is Ocean City. There’s no thugs here. There’s no gangs here. There are kids that are riding on bikes after being stuck in the house for a whole year.”
We have faith in Ocean City Police Chief Jay Prettyman. We know he told council new directives from the state Attorney General’s Office are tying officers hands – or at least making them hesitate when dealing with juveniles – but we believe as someone who raised his own children here, he and his officers can get a handle on the situation without escalating it or treating these young people as criminals.
It has been a terrible year for young people with the pandemic limiting what they can do and whom they can see. This burst of freedom coming as pandemic restrictions are lifted and the warm weather is here is expected.
Some, unfortunately, are taking advantage of their newfound freedom in the wrong way. We hope, first, that their parents can help rein them in, mostly to ensure they don’t cause harm to themselves with reckless behavior, and that police can treat this as a nuisance to be mitigated, not as criminal activity.