Joins Ocean City in effort to stop teenage hooligans troublemakers
WILDWOOD — Because juvenile delinquents are plaguing other island towns, Wildwood is following Sea Isle City and Ocean City to get more control over unruly youths.
If results also follow suit, things could take a turn for the better in Wildwood. An Ocean City councilman attested this resort’s changes have returned the Ocean City boardwalk to a family-friendly environment.
Effective Aug. 2 in Wildwood, an emergency ordinance is in place that prohibits juveniles — youths under 18 years of age — from being on public streets between midnight and 6 a.m.
Wildwood officials said the new law is “in direct response to various ongoing complaints about unruly teens who act up, disturb the peace, cause chaos and, sometimes, violence to the otherwise peaceful city of Wildwood.”
Whereas Ocean City was moved to act after a wave of problems over Memorial Day weekend, for Wildwood the breaking point was Independence Day weekend.
During that time, according to the new ordinance, “crowds of unruly juveniles … congregated on and near the boardwalk and elsewhere within the city … with one such incident involving approximately 60 juveniles congregating, failing to disperse and engaging in widespread acts of rioting and criminal mischief ….”
The ordinance justifies the new curfew because of “an increase in juvenile violence, crime, and other disruptive and potential dangerous activity in the city in recent times.”
It also notes it is being enacted for safety because of the “threat of ongoing congregation of juveniles and others that could turn violent and/or otherwise disruptive to the public health, welfare, and safety of the city of Wildwood and its citizens and seasonal visitors.”
“We have been witnessing unprecedented lawless acts by juveniles in recent years, yet the state laws have taken the control away from the police. This new law puts the authority back into the hands of our police department to ensure the safety, not only of our community, but also of the teens themselves,” Mayor Pete Byron said in a release issued July 27.
“This problem is not unique to Wildwood,” Deputy Mayor Krista Fitzsimons said. “Many towns up and down the shoreline are experiencing increasing incidents. It is incumbent upon us to put laws into effect that work to preserve safety and peace of mind for our residents and visitors.”
Ocean City enacted new rules in June after being overwhelmed by unruly youths creating havoc over Memorial Day weekend, repeating similar problems from the previous summer with large gatherings. It also has closed the beaches to everyone at 8 p.m., with exceptions for special events. A new Wildwood ordinance approved at the same time closes the beaches there at 9 p.m.
During a news conference June 1, Ocean City Police Chief Jay Prettyman said the department issued 632 curbside warnings over Memorial Day weekend in 2022, but that number almost doubled to 1,100, calls for service rose from 869 to 999 and shoplifting complaints jumped form 60 to 90 this year.
Like Wildwood, Ocean City’s curfew prohibits minors from being on “any public street or in a public place,” but is earlier, setting the times between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. “unless accompanied by the juveniles’ parents or guardian or unless engaged in, or traveling to or from, a business or occupation” allowed by state law.
In Ocean City, the revised ordinance makes it an offense for a parent, legal guardian or caretaker to allow unaccompanied juveniles to be out in public during those hours or for the owner/operator of any establishment to allow juveniles on the premises during the curfew hours.
The ordinance also spells out that it is unlawful for any person, including any juvenile, “to give a false name, address or telephone number to any officer investigating a possible violation ….”
Similarly, the Wildwood ordinance spells out the curbside warnings that would be issued to a juvenile and how they would be taken in for a station house adjustment and a parent or guardian called. The parent or guardian could be issued a summons for failing to ensure a juvenile is not breaking the law.
At Thursday evening’s Ocean City Council meeting, Councilman Jody Levchuk, whose family runs a number of businesses on the boardwalk, said the new ordinances are working.
“Ever since we put some new rules into effect, now for a good six weeks straight the Ocean City Boardwalk has been phenomenally peaceful, family environment, even later into the night. The issues that were here are pretty much irrelevant,” he said.
“What we have done is 100,000 percent working,” Levchuk added. “I see it every day. I’m proud to see Ocean City has gotten back to the ways” everybody knows.
New act root of problem
Police say problems began to arise when the state approved the Cannabis Regulatory Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act (CREAMMA) in 2021 that legalized the sale and consumption of cannabis products for adults.
CREAMMA, police say, tied their hands when it came to juveniles because it limited their authority to stop, question, search and detain them for potential infractions such as underage possession and consumption of alcohol or drugs.
The change in law was intended to keep underage infractions from becoming a juvenile record that could harm their prospects in the future, but an unintended consequence was juveniles using those limits to flout the law in shore communities because they did not have to identify themselves to police, making them feel invulnerable to prosecution.
Police were not allowed to search the youths even if they saw illegal drugs or alcohol in their possession if they hid the contraband in a pocket or a backpack.
The other Ocean City ordinance prohibits “all backpacks” on the boardwalk from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily from May 15 to Sept. 15. Also prohibited are bags larger than 8” by 6” by 8” including book bags, fanny packs, cinch bags, coolers, briefcases, luggage, computer bags and camera bags. (Exceptions include medical devices, active fishing and essential equipment for journalists operating in a professional capacity and on-duty police officers.)
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
Staff writer Craig D. Schenck contributed to this story.