Myrtle Beach grants police more power to curb safety issues that plague Ocean Boulevard
The next three weekends in Myrtle Beach will receive a special designation that will result in an influx of law enforcement in tourist spots following a string of gun violence and unlawful behavior along Ocean Boulevard.
During a special City Council meeting on Wednesday, city leaders approved a resolution that will deem each weekend through July 5 an extraordinary event. This declaration grants the city the ability to request the assistance of federal, state and other local agencies to combat certain safety issues that have erupted in recent weeks.
Since Myrtle Beach re-opened to tourism on May 15 following a shutdown caused by the coronavirus, there have been five shootings along the Boulevard. Police said three of those were gang-related.
“We all have a personal responsibility here and it is a team effort,” Mayor Brenda Bethune said. “If we want our visitors to feel safe here, to go home and tell others about the experiences they had here, and if we want them to come back, we all have to have a stake in this to have that happen.”
The vote, which was taken after a nearly four-hour meeting, came after council agreed to alter an original resolution that sought to declare every weekend through Labor Day an extraordinary event. That designation is normally used for high volume holiday weekends such as Memorial Day.
According to the city code, an extraordinary event is defined as a large-scale gathering, permitted or non-permitted event that has a history of attracting or is expected to attract a significant number of vehicles or people exceeding 10,000 that could have an immediate impact on the city’s public health, safety and welfare.
Starting Friday, the city will have about nine local and state police agencies providing the Myrtle Beach Police Department assistance in monitoring traffic caused by the influx of tourists visiting the city despite the coronavirus pandemic and offering an extra set of eyes in the event any violence occurs.
Additional officers will be placed from 21st Avenue North to 17th Avenue South on Ocean Boulevard and on certain back roads, Chief Amy Prock said, explaining the tourist stretch will be broken down into sections with three officers assigned to each area. Though the plan can change if there’s a mass gathering of people, traffic or if issues arise, she said.
A traffic plan will also be put in place every weekend for the remainder of the summer from Friday to Sunday to ease congestion. Similar to recent weekends, parts of the boulevard will be shut down around 9 p.m. between 16th Avenue North and 3rd Avenue South to divert traffic to Kings Highway. The plan could go into effect earlier if necessary, Prock said.
Another measure that would have granted Prock and City Manager John Pedersen certain authorities over safety decisions, such as closing businesses along Ocean Boulevard and enforcing a curfew, was tabled to a workshop after several members of the business community contested the idea.
The ordinance, which will require two readings upon approval, would give Pedersen and Prock the ability to close any business “only upon the failure of at least one previous effort to achieve compliance, and to be effective only from the moment of such order until that business normally reopens (but not sooner than four hours).”
While business owners were outraged by the proposal, Pedersen said that rule isn’t new and is currently part of the city code regarding retail services. Despite that, several spoke out to council requesting there be more of a police presence, stating that enforcement has lacked over the last few weeks.
“It’s really hard for us when we hear what Chief Prock is saying but working down there, we can agree that there’s not any presence, not that we see,” said Rachel Beckerman, marketing and brand manger for the SkyWheel. “We’re not saying they’re not doing they’re jobs, but last weekend alone we had three calls we had to make and it took anywhere between 20 to 45 minutes to get someone down there.”
Beckerman, along with several other merchants, stressed that enforcement is what is needed to ensure safety among the community.
Michelle Kerscher, manager of the Gay Dolphin, added that police aren’t seen patrolling the streets anymore. She said if council were to approve the ordinance it could negativity effect businesses that rely heavily on summer tourism dollars. She further asserted that the city hadn’t consulted her or any other business owners prior to Wednesday’s meeting, stressing that without communication or more enforcement, any decision made would be an overreach.
“No one has talked to us. We know the problems, we’re down there every single day,” Kerscher said. “We want to be heard and included and then come up with a plan that everyone can support and you have the support of the business community. We feel that’s the way the city should work and unfortunately that hasn’t always been in the past.”
Following an hour-long executive session, Bethune said the community’s concerns were heard. She said officials will revisit the ordinance in a workshop and also continue discussing the option to extend the extraordinary event designation through the remainder of the summer at a later time.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 7:36 PM.
