Police Crackdown On Gang Activity, DWIs In Seaside Heights Begins On Memorial Day Weekend

If you spend any time in Seaside Heights this weekend, whether you’re strolling the boardwalk or spending time taking in the nightlife at any of the town’s bars and clubs, chances are you’re going to notice more police officers around.

You may see officers from various departments cracking down on gang activity, DWIs and other bad behaviors by using additional license plate scanners, gang intelligence officers, DWI patrols and K-9 units.

Having such an increased presence is not an unusual occurrence, says Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

“We do this every year,” Della Fave said Friday, referring to a report that characterized the extra officers -- coming from six or seven different agencies to assist the Seaside Heights Police Department -- as a “show of force.”

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Some of those officers will be in uniform; others will be in plain clothes. All will be on hand to assist with handling a population that swells to by a multiple of 10.

Seaside Heights has had highly publicized incidents on holiday weekends in recent years, including a melee that resulted in 39 arrests and the shutdown of the boardwalk on July Fourth weekend in 2011, and a fatal stabbing on Memorial Day weekend that year. And in 2012, a fight at a motel led to a man being stabbed in the stomach.

Those incidents have led to a heightened sensitivity in the borough -- one that isn’t helped by incidents such as the one last year two weeks after Memorial Day where two people were stabbed on the same night.

Della Fave said it’s not the incidents that prompted authorities to increase the police presence in Seaside Heights this weekend; it’s simply a matter of numbers.

“Our population almost quadruples this weekend,” Della Fave said. “It’s the prudent thing to do” to have more officers on hand.

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