NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – Officials at both the state and local level are sending a message to the crowds coming for spring break this year: Enjoy the Sunshine State, but don’t destroy it and leave it a mess.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday morning that state law enforcement is going to be making their presence known this year in four spring break hot spots in Florida, including Volusia County.
New Smyrna Beach police are gearing up for the crowds to start showing up this weekend and are building a full command post at the end of Flagler Avenue.
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“We clearly have an issue with unchaperoned teenagers. What I mean by that is your parents are in Central Florida, they rented a hotel room or Airbnb, and they say go have fun. The problem is that’s not what’s happening. It’s not wholesome fun,” Chief Eric Feldman said.
Feldman said the younger spring breakers causing issues is a fairly new issue his department deals with this time of year.
“Starting in 2022, it got pretty bad and primarily we didn’t know. We weren’t in 2021 the destination for high school spring break. That came in 2022 thanks to Snapchat and TikTok,” he said.
In 2022, the city reported an 89% increase in teenagers arrested compared to the year prior during Spring Break.
Now, city officials are issuing an 11 p.m. curfew for juveniles where both the juvenile and parent can be held accountable.
“The kids have been good about that. They know that at 11 p.m. you’re gone. You need to go home. If you’re here you’re going to be detained,” Feldman said.
DeSantis said the state will deploy 140 troopers to help police in 17 spring break cities like New Smyrna Beach after two shootings during spring break in Miami Beach last year.
“This includes reinforcing communities throughout South Florida with over 60 additional state troopers. We’re also going to have another 60 in other spring break hot spots like Daytona Beach and Panama City Beach,” he said.
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