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“When they go from a dangerous situation to complete lockdown, there is no business,” he said. “We’re just caught in the wake of how they handle it. The service industry and the hospitality industry, they get completely obliterated because it goes from having complete chaos to nothing.”
In the past, civil rights activists have complained about the city police department’s use of military-style vehicles, pepper balls and forceful crowd control tactics during spring break, which attracts many Black visitors to a city whose resident population is largely white. Glendon Hall, chairman of the Miami Beach Black Affairs Advisory Committee, which was created two years ago, was embedded with police officers and the city’s “goodwill ambassadors” during spring break last month. He said in a statement that was read at a meeting on Tuesday that he was pleased with how law enforcement handled the “massive crowds” this year, and that there had been no major complaints from civil rights groups.
The Miami Beach Police Department made 573 arrests in March, a slight drop from 615 arrests in March 2022, according to Officer Ernesto Rodriguez, a department spokesman. Police officers seized more than 100 guns this year, he added.
In spite of the headlines about shootings and curfews, families, couples and small gaggles of friends strolled down the sidewalks of Ocean Drive on a Friday afternoon late last month. Marcus Benjamin, a 19-year-old college student from Chicago, said the city’s emergency measures had “not at all” affected his trip with two of his buddies.
“I’ve seen a lot of cops on the beach,” said one of his friends, Cameron Sasser, also 19. “But it’s about the same as other years.”
Still, most everyone in city leadership seems to agree that the chaotic spring-break crowds have become too much. But when it comes to what to do about them, views differ.
Mayor Dan Gelber said spring break “doesn’t fit with a city that has so many residents.”
“South Beach has bars and restaurants,” he said, “but it also has elementary schools and churches and synagogues.” Some local residents and visitors who spend lavishly often avoid the city during spring break.
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