VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The number of citations during the seven-day central Florida spring break stretch more than tripled this year compared to last.
The Volusia sheriff’s office says 191 people were arrested during the seven-day period, but this number is down from last year.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood said despite more arrests, this spring break was actually calmer than last year. He said the overall behavior was better and the high school kids who typically caused problems were more respectful. In 2022, crowds of kids took over Flagler Avenue and vandalized businesses. Chitwood said this year, the extra enforcement prevented that from happening.
“We made Flagler Avenue and New Smyrna Beach ground zero. When you walked around, FWC was out there, troopers were out there, Daytona, Port Orange, Edgewater, we were out there,” said Chitwood.
Even so, 191 people were arrested for both misdemeanor and felony offenses, 26 of those were juveniles.
“Seminole led the pack, Seminole had like 11. Orange County was next, then Lake. But Volusia two arrests when you’re looking at it, I mean our kids know the rules of engagement here. They’re not going to come and act a fool,” said Chitwood.
Law enforcement will scale back some but as groups of spring breakers from other states make their way to the beach from other states, Chitwood said they’ll still be on high alert.
College students from Missouri who were in town said they appreciated that and added they came to town to relax, not cause trouble.
“This is the most popular beach in the world,” said Logan Lanear.
“We want to fish, go on the beach, ride jet skis, have a good time,” said his friend Adrian Cantrell.
The Sheriff’s Office said the most significant event from last week was the shooting in Daytona Beach that injured two people. There were also drug arrests, an e-bike hit and run and a stolen car case.
Chitwood said they were able to control chaos in New Smyrna Beach but next year, he’d like to get a handle on Daytona Beach as well.
“To really go after these pop-up promoters. You know we were there when the shooting occurred, there was a ton of resources there. So, I think going forward, we need to be coordinating more with Daytona on the pop-up events because we were able to crush any kind of pop-up event that was going to occur in New Smyrna,” said Chitwood.
The county is also investigating ways to legally control the pop-up event. After the shooting, county councilors agreed to consider and discuss options at a future meeting.
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