JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – The Jacksonville Beach Police Department said it is preparing for a takeover event on Saturday near the pier at 3 p.m., and will deploy extra officers and partner agencies in a zero-tolerance operation.
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The department said it detected the takeover far in advance and verified the date, time, location, expected attendance and weather. Officials said they have developed a messaging and enforcement strategy, attempted to identify promoters and will be on scene before crowds arrive.
Dozens of additional officers will supplement more than 70 Jacksonville Beach officers expected on Saturday and Sunday. The city said the deployment will include officers and deputies from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Neptune Beach Police Department and the Atlantic Beach Police Department.
“We will be taking a zero-tolerance approach toward violence, illegal firearms possession, illegal drugs and targeting gang violence,” the department said, adding it will use an integrated system of personnel, technology and crowd-control techniques and maintain open communication with residents, businesses and city officials.
Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith acknowledged the limits of law enforcement to prevent every violent act.
“Despite this systematic, innovative and aggressive approach to enforcement, JBPD (nor any other agency) cannot guarantee that a violent incident will not occur,” Smith said. “That is why takeovers are a national problem. When people live in a free society with constitutional safeguards and you have members of that society that have no regard for life, no fear of consequences, have no respect for anyone or anything, and are intent on committing a violent crime, it is presumptuous to believe that law enforcement can or could do anything to stop people with these intentions. We cannot do what society, and their parents should have been doing to them their whole lives.”
Smith said at the shooting at the Jacksonville Beach takeover event on Feb. 21, officers were nearby when the shooting started.
“We had 6-8 officers and two marked cars within 50 feet when they started shooting. We could have had 200 officers out that night and it still would have made no difference,” he said.
Sergeant Tonya Tator, the department’s public information officer, urged anyone with information to call the First Coast Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477) or submit tips online at www.fccrimestoppers.com.