Jersey Shore Town Ticketing Parents For Teens Bad Behavior

MARGATE CITY, NJ — Memorial Day weekend was a chaotic one at the Jersey Shore, with teenage stabbings, fights and more. As local officials look to ensure the shore is a safe place for all, one city is deciding to put the blame on the parents.

Margate City is the latest Jersey Shore municipality taking a "more proactive approach" towards safety as summer vacation gets into full swing, local police said.

"It is the goal of the Margate City Police Department to prevent some of the issues other shore towns have experienced this summer season," police said in a statement. And they're doing so by ticketing the parents.

Police said they will be enforcing the "parental responsibility" ordinance during curfew hours for those under 17, between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., "any time when officers observe a juvenile unsupervised and engaging in any behavior that is unlawful, puts their safety at risk, or if they ignore lawful commands from officers attempting to keep them safe."

The child in question will be taken to the police station and their parent/guardian will be called to pick them up. And said guardian could be ticketed if they knowingly let the child be unsupervised, according to the law.

If necessary, the child could be criminally charged. Fines range from $100 to $1,000 - and if the parent is ticketed too, both of them could end up performing community service together.

Local legislators have recently been putting the blame on the parents for allowing the teenage rowdiness. In a recent hearing, Ocean City Police Chief Bill Campbell shared a story of a young boy who was arrested in connection with a stolen car. His parents were called to the station but hadn't shown up for more than six hours. At that point, it was after midnight, and local police were called to the parents' home. "The mother was annoyed that she had to come down to Ocean City," Campbell said. Read more: Teen Rowdiness At Jersey Shore Parent’s Fault, Officials Say

"We, and other police departments and public officials in the state, have asked parents to better supervise their children over the past few years," Margate police said. "To date, those calls have been met with limited, or no, success leading us to take this action to ensure the safety of those in the community."