Did N.J. directive lay foundation for Shore rowdyism?

Being as I did not grow up in Philadelphia, I don’t have any warm, childhood memories of the Shore, such as those memorialized by my friend Bobby Rydell in his  hit “Wildwood Days.”  

For me, “the Shore” was the beach, first Orchard Beach on Long Island when I lived in The Bronx, and then the famous Coney Island, after my family moved to Brooklyn. These were day trips, but we never used the term shoobies.

When I got to Philly, I would be more likely to go to the Poconos than downashore. I had young children, it was cheaper, and there were more things to do.

Eventually, my job at the Daily News required me to go to the Shore on assignment, and I had a few friends with Shore houses where I was an occasional guest. I guess the most consistent fun I had was turning up at Jerry Blavat’s Memories in Margate.

From 1987 to 2004, I wrote an infamous gossip/entertainment column that required me to cover Atlantic City, where I first met and interviewed future President Donald J. Trump, long before his TV success.

I considered him to be an entertaining blowhard who lied a lot, but he was colorful, and good copy, because people were interested in his antics — whether with women or with Merv Griffin, with whom he engaged in a titanic struggle to see who would become the Biggest Dick in A.C. (Trump won.)

Anyway, around that time I learned about the different character of the Shore towns — from Atlantic City, through the Wildwoods, all the way to Cape May. (Thank you, Cozy Morley.)

Two things I learned about Ocean City: It was for families, and it was dry. No alcohol sold in the city limits.

So it was a little surprising to read about Memorial Day weekend disturbances in that community by teens, often involving alcohol. The Friday Inquirer carried a story detailing the disturbances, but minus one fact that had been previously reported — a state directive.

The newspaper summarized the issue this way: “According to police, there were 999 incidents over the past weekend, the majority involving underage people, ranging from underage drinking, vandalism, assaults, shoplifting, and confiscation of weapons like knives, burglary tools, and a BB gun — up from 869 incidents last year.”

Ocean City has ordered everyone off the beaches by 8 p.m., and no backpacks on the beach or boardwalk after that hour. Everyone suffers for the sins of the few, but 999 doesn’t sound like a few.

In fact, disturbances are common up and down the Jersey Shore, and getting worse.

Why?

Shore officials point to a December 2020 state directive, in the wake of the so-called reckoning following George Floyd’s murder, that scaled back police response to disorderly conduct. They say it has harmed public safety.

In the directive, State Attorney General  Gurbir S. Grewal, cited the 2003 “Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), which transformed the state’s juvenile justice system and largely eliminated the chronic, dangerous overcrowding that plagued our state’s juvenile detention facilities.”

He said “the total number of juveniles in detention per year has dropped by 80 percent, from about 12,000 to less than 2,500, with youth of color accounting for almost 90 percent of the decline.”

Speaking of “youth of color,” that’s what you do not find in Ocean City, nor are the youth marginalized, nor victims of poverty. They are the victims of parents who can afford $3,000 for a one-week house rental. 

The directive calls for “curbside warnings” for delinquency, rather than arrest. Sounds good, but word gets out that cops are instructed to give delinquents a good talking to and nothing more and the kids thumb their noses at police.

“Ocean City Police Chief Jay Prettyman noted that this past weekend marked an uptick in fights and underage drinking from last year, which sent eight underage people to the hospital who were unconscious due to alcohol consumption,” the Inquirer reported.

“We want parents, grandparents and families to know that we’re all in this together, and we will be holding people accountable,” Mayor Jay Gillian said. “I also want to send a message to our governor and legislators that the laws they forced on all municipalities are a threat to public safety, and they deprive families of the opportunity to enjoy the Jersey Shore,” reported the Cape May Herald.

The state directive, no doubt written with the best of intentions, seems to have unintended consequences.