Police departments across the country are deploying drones, curfews and social media monitoring to head off so-called “teen takeovers” before they can disrupt Fourth of July weekend celebrations marking the nation’s 250th anniversary on Saturday.
The gatherings, often organized through social media flyers, have repeatedly turned volatile in cities nationwide in recent months, prompting law enforcement agencies to intervene before crowds even assemble rather than wait for chaos to unfold, Fox News reported Friday.
In Falmouth, Massachusetts, police have increased staffing and are using drones to monitor beaches, aiming to break up large gatherings before they become dangerous, according to Fox News.
On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Ocean City police in June foiled a gathering advertised on social media as a “Late Night Beach Party Link Up,” arresting several alleged organizers before the event could take place after learning of the plan through a tip from the Baltimore Police Department, according to WTOP News. Those arrested included a Frederick, Maryland, woman already wanted in a home-invasion investigation and a 20-year-old Baltimore man accused of advertising drug sales online in Ocean City, police said.
Greenville, North Carolina, imposed its second temporary juvenile curfew in as many weekends, barring anyone younger than 18 from a designated stretch of downtown from 11 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday, according to the Daily Reflector. Mayor P.J. Connelly’s order followed a June 20 gathering in which fights broke out among a large crowd of teenagers downtown, and it came after social media posts called for another “takeover” on June 27. Twelve juveniles were detained for curfew violations that weekend, the newspaper reported. The curfew exempts juveniles accompanied by a parent or working at a downtown business.
Officials say the stakes are high. In Georgia, an “unpermitted, pop-up event” on Tybee Island in April was disrupted after police reported hearing a single gunshot near the pier, sending hundreds of teenagers fleeing in panic, according to Fox News. Detectives said the shot may have originated from the beach below the pier and are still searching for two people seen in video emerging from beneath it afterward.
Margaret McLean, a former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that law enforcement no longer waits for a takeover to spiral into violence before acting.
“It’s a big preventative measure that police are using,” Ms. McLean said. “They’re monitoring the social media … arresting some people for rioting. If these organizers are worried that they may face criminal charges or they may get a criminal record or possibly even go to jail, they may step back and decide not to organize one of these events.”
She said the gatherings pose an outsized risk to bystanders who have nothing to do with the unrest.
“What makes them so dangerous is fights can break out and somebody, some innocent bystander can get pushed down or hurt, or they can fall and hit their head and then die from a bad head wound,” Ms. McLean said.
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