NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. - – Volusia County beaches are bustling with activity as spring break draws large crowds, keeping law enforcement on high alert. The influx of young people has led to numerous arrests and citations.
By Monday, the third day of spring break, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office was already reporting an average of 27 arrests per day
“That doesn’t count just normal citations and then with the help that New Smyrna is giving and everyone else, they’re just getting hammered,” said Deputy Brett Kolterman.
With massive crowds, deputies are patrolling the beaches, both in uniform and undercover, to address issues like underage drinking.
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“With massive crowds it’s hard to drive down here because you can see it gets very busy so what we’ll wind up doing is walking in and out of the cars just to see if we can find alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, things like that,” Kolterman said.
Officers and deputies are also actively stopping cars and addressing illegally squatted trucks.
“We try to keep people spread out and as long as they’re minding their own business, we have no problem with you, it’s just once things start to go illegal that’s when we have an issue,” Kolterman noted.
Over the weekend, 82 people were arrested on the beach, with about 10 facing felony charges, which is a big increase compared to last year’s spring break, which saw 52 arrests and over 200 citations.
The problems with the crowds extend beyond New Smyrna Beach to the entire Volusia County coast. In Daytona Beach, two 19-year-olds were shot near the boardwalk during an unsanctioned beach day event over the weekend.
Deputy Kolterman told News 6 that is just one of the reasons they work to disperse the crowds before “crowd mentality” can set in.
“A lot of times what they’re do is they’ll group up and who knows what’s going on in there and then the group floods into the traffic lanes and then fights break out so that’s the issue,” he explained.