Holiday weekend ends on safer note

With increased police presence, no major incidents over Memorial Day weekend

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – Amid fears of past violence on Memorial Day weekend, the Jacksonville Beach Police Department made sure to step up patrols for this year's holiday weekend to keep revelers safe on Jacksonville Beach.

"We can kind of look back at our past and predict the future somewhat there." Patrick Dooley, Chief of Police for the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, said.

As the weekend comes to a close, no serious issues related to physical violence have broken out and the Police Department hopes that peace continues through the night.

"We just want people to come out and behave themselves. People are going to come out, walk the beach, swim, go to the stores, restaurants, bars, whatever. We just ask they bring their good behavior with them and manners," Dooley said.

Dooley said so far they haven't had any major incidents. And even with the streets filled with people last night, they've only arrested just a few people on misdemeanors.

"Last night was fairly busy for us but again, we didn't have anything, nobody was seriously injured. We had a stolen vehicle recovered. Overall it was successful," Dooley said.

He said anyone who's walking along the beach at night should use caution because it's harder to see and you do run the risk of running into some kind of problem out there but the increased police presence should make for a safe end to Memorial Day weekend. Â