Ocean City police issued 1,300 curbside warnings and brought 23 kids into the police station during chaotic Memorial Day weekend

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — With a ferris wheel and a sign for pizza behind them, Ocean City’s police chief and elected officials sought to assure the public that the Shore town was still family-friendly and safe, despite a stabbing on the boardwalk, fights and crowds of teens during the holiday weekend.

“You have to look in the mirror,” said Mayor Jay Gillian. “Everybody who loves Ocean City can rest assured this summer will be a great one. We’re not blaming anybody. We are Ocean City. We are the safest town. That’s why people come here.”

Gillian said police issued 1,306 curbside warnings and brought 23 juveniles into the police station for “stationhouse adjustments” mostly related to fights and shoplifting. These teens are released to the custody of their parents and can avoid charges by performing community service.

Police Chief Bill Campbell said the teens involved in the fight that led to the stabbing of a 15-year-old were from the nearby towns of Atlantic City, Pleasantville and Mays Landing. He said they had arranged to meet up with one another in Ocean City.

There has been no arrest in the stabbing of the teen, who was said to have non-life-threatening injuries.

“These were a group of juveniles who were all familiar with one another,” Campbell said. “This was a targeted engagement between these juveniles. There were no other individuals who were targeted. Once this group was under control and removed from the boardwalk, order and civility was restored in approximately 60 to 90 minutes.

“No outside vacationers or residents of Ocean City were targeted,” he said. “This was a specific group with the intent of carrying out this fight that everybody saw on the video.”

It was a weekend that saw huge crowds of teenagers on boardwalks from Wildwood to Seaside Heights, multiple fights, including the stabbing near 10th Street on the Ocean City boardwalk, and the total shutdown of the Wildwood boardwalk from midnight Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday after officials cited “civil unrest.” It continued several years of massive crowds of young people over the unofficial-start-to-summer weekend that have led to curfews, backpack bans and early closing of beaches.

Assemblyman Antwan McClellan said he would continue working with the Police Benevolent Association to come up with rules and regulations that would address the problem.

Legislation he proposed this year was partially vetoed by Gov. Phil Murphy, and local officials say they need to be able to proactively interact with juveniles who are using cannabis or drinking alcohol.

“It’s up and down the coast,” McClellan said. “We’re going to continue to fight as a legislature to make sure this doesn’t continue to happen.”

Campbell said auxiliary officers would be coming on duty, and the town would be considering other changes to their ordinances to address the problem and keep behavior from escalating.

“I think this is an isolated incident,” McClellan said. He said everyone was welcome in Ocean City “as long as they’re not stabbing things.”