Miami launched a new campaign “breaking up” with spring breakers, citing three consecutive years of violence, debauchery, and chaos.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Office announced on March 5 that the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will be “deploying manpower and tactical assets to popular spring break destinations like Miami Beach, Daytona Beach, and Panama City Beach,” ahead of the spring breakers’ arrival.
Miami will be enforcing monthlong curfews, security searches, bag checks for beachgoers, and early beach closures to curb potential violence. Additionally, the city warned tourists and spring breakers that it plans to erect barricades, set up DUI checkpoints, and enlist state and local officers to patrol heavily populated areas in vehicles, ATVs, bicycles, and on foot, according to the governor’s office.
“Florida may be popular for spring break, but it is inhospitable to criminal activity,” said Governor Ron DeSantis in a press release. “Florida does not tolerate lawlessness and chaos. I am directing state law enforcement agencies to provide additional personnel and assets to local entities to ensure that they have the resources they need to keep the peace over spring break.”
At a press conference discussing the new measures, Governor DeSantis added, “Florida is a very welcoming state. We welcome people to come and have a good time. What we don’t welcome is criminal activity. What we don’t welcome is mayhem and people who want to wreak havoc on our communities.”
Similar measures implemented by city officials in previous years have been reactionary, rather than preventative, a key distinction regarding Miami’s new approach to tamping down rowdy spring break crowds.
In 2021, 150 spring breakers were arrested in a chaotic squabble with police, and in 2022, two shootings occurred within 48 hours in Miami Beach during annual spring break festivities, and in 2023, another spring break shooting left one individual dead and another injured, prompting the city and state to take more proactive measures in 2024.
The governor’s office reported that 17 local law enforcement agencies requested 140 state troopers to assist in taming spring breakers in their jurisdiction this year, and announced that FHP will additionally activate 24 “Quick Response Troopers” in several counties around the state.
