PANAMA CITY BEACH — Reports of Spring Break crime and gunplay reached unprecedented heights this year, according to official documents.
But a definitive cause could remain unanswered.
As the smoke clears from the annual rite of passage, when college students from across the country flock to the Gulf Coast, officials in Bay County will be looking back on a year of historic requests for law enforcement and arrests in the wake of new laws and policy shifts toward Spring Break. Law enforcement in Bay County saw across-the-board increases in calls for service, arrests and gun-related incidents during March, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and Panama City Beach Police Department reported.
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Compared to 2014, BCSO arrests this year nearly tripled, from 324 to 928 in March. PCBPD did not see as much of a leap in arrests, reporting an increase from 772 to 935 in March. A similar trend developed in regards to seizures of firearms. While BCSO confiscations increased from nine last year to 39 this year, PCBPD reports increased from 26 last year to 33 in the current year.
The difference in rates of increase between the agencies could be due to several factors, including changes in laws and additional police presence on the Beach.
“You have more officers; you’re going to have more arrests,” said BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford. “I guarantee you we are not arresting everyone breaking the law, though.”
Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman could not be reached Friday for comment on this report.
BCSO implemented a policy to book people on misdemeanors this year and established a six-man “sand patrol” unit with $150,000 they received from the Tourist Development Council (TDC) to place more officers on the beach. PCBPD also received $150,000 from the TDC for additional resources during Spring Break.
Officers from adjacent jurisdictions were brought in to help combat the multitudes of party-seeking spring breakers, and a new ordinance enabled police to approach and arrest people drinking on the beach without identification, where they wouldn’t have been able to initiate contact in previous years.
Beach ordinances accounted for 312 incidents of those worked by BCSO, according to the agency’s records. Last year, they only worked one case under beach ordinances.
According to PCBPD records, officers did not have a single report of an ID violation on the beach this year. However, police worked 172 alcohol-related Beach incidents, such as minor in possession of alcohol and having a glass container on the beach.
Calls for service more accurately reflect the demands placed on each agency during Spring Break, and both demonstrated similar increases from last year. BCSO saw an increase to calls for service from 4,110 last year to 5,209 this year in the Beach zones. PCBPD responded to 9,577 calls for service last year and 10,512 this year in the same time frame.
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However, one of the most elusive figures of Spring Break, and most crucial to determining if crime has grown without a significant population increase, is an accurate tally of visitors. Estimates each year range from 150,000 to 400,000 visitors for the month, with no definitive figures from one year to the next.
To BCSO the answer is that, whether or not more people are migrating to Panama City Beach for Spring Break, more criminals have joined their ranks.
“It’s a complex issue without a clear answer, but there is definitely an increase in the criminal element,” Ford said.