Backpacks are likely to be banned from the boardwalk in a New Jersey beach town following a series of incidents in which juveniles used bags to bring "paraphernalia and alcohol" to the coast.
The Wildwood Board of Commissioners is expected to pass an emergency backpack ban during their Wednesday night meeting. The ban, if passed, will go into effect immediately, and will bar the use of bags on the boardwalk between 8pm and 4am daily.
The ban will include all backpacks except for diaper bags, medical equipment bags, and small purses. Those caught breaking the ban will be asked by law enforcement to leave the boardwalk and could face fines if they return with a bag, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Wildwood is approximately 45 miles south of Atlantic City.
The city's safety officials said the ban was necessary to protect tourists and residents from teens bringing alcohol or weapons to the boardwalk.
The city had to declare a state of emergency over the Memorial Day Weekend when large crowds of juveniles visiting the beach and boardwalk prohibited police from addressing service calls. Police were forced to close the boardwalk on Memorial Day with it opening again at 6am the following day, according to ABC 6.
"Wildwood will not tolerate unruly, undisciplined, unparented children nor will we stand by while the laws of the state tie the hands of the police," the city's mayor, Ernie Troiano Jr, said in a statement after the Memorial Day incident. "We wholeheartedly support the City of Wildwood Police Department in protecting this community from these nuisance crowds on our boardwalk and in the city."
A group of New Jersey police chiefs and Republican lawmakers met on Wednesday ahead of the Board of Commissioners meeting to demand that the parents of juveniles who create civil disturbances be held criminally responsible.
“The juveniles and their parents should be held accountable,” Ocean City Police Chief William Campbell said during the panel, according to NBC10. “The entire juvenile justice system needs to be reformed.”
Joseph Murphy, Wildwood's police chief, agreed.
“We are not holding these kids accountable, and it's not rehabilitating these kids,” he said.
Wildwood isn't the first city to consider a backpack ban in response to juvenile disturbances; Ocean City enacted a similar ban last year, which bars all backpacks on the beach and boardwalk after 8pm.
Like Wildwood, Ocean City's ban was meant to curb rowdy behavior at the beach and boardwalk, specifically among juveniles.
While Ocean City banned backpacks on the beach as well, officials in Wildwood said that bags on the beach are a "gray area," though it's unclear what that means for enforcement. Regardless, the expected bag ban does not include Wildwood's beaches as of Wednesday's meeting.
