Urban Beach Weekend mayhem up this year
By Akilah Johnson | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 25, 2009
Wet weather has not kept throngs of people from partying and misbehaving on Miami Beach during this long holiday weekend, police said Sunday.
Urban Beach Weekend, a hip-hop showcase, has drawn about 250,000 revelers to South Beach since 2001, when the partygoers caught city officials largely off guard. A citywide plan since enacted calls for all 368 Miami Beach police officers to be on the streets, aided by neighboring departments.
According to preliminary numbers released Sunday by Miami Beach police, those officers have been busier this year than last.
From 7 a.m. Saturday to 6:59 a.m. Sunday, officers made 141 arrests and responded to 861 calls, police spokesman Detective Juan Sanchez said. Last year, during the same 24-hour period, officers made 135 arrests and responded to 770 calls.
Twenty-eight of the arrest charges were felonies and 113 were misdemeanors, he said. Officers confiscated 16 handguns and one shotgun.
"It's been a busy one day," he said. "One hundred more calls is substantially more calls, when still working the street with the same number of people."
One of those arrested was Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Randy Starks, who was charged with a felony, aggravated battery on a police officer, after the slow-moving truck he was driving struck an officer who had tried to stop him on Ocean Drive.
Sanchez said the final arrest numbers won't be released until Tuesday.
The city welcomes the out-of-towners but wants to make sure everyone enjoys the weekend, which is why code and parking enforcement officers join police on the streets.
"It's not a free-for-all," he said. "Respect that this is a city with yearlong residents. It's not: Let's come down here and let's have mayhem."