DEWEY BEACH — This summer marks a first in town as Dewey Beach Patrol Captain Todd Fritchman and his five lieutenants have the ability to make offenders pay for civil offenses on the beach.
“We can write tickets for the consumption of alcohol in public, littering and so on,” Fritchman said. “We’re not policemen; we’re rescue lifeguards with the ability to write tickets.”
But the issue at hand is no longer who makes people pay, rather how much they have to fork over.
According to Mayor Dell Tush, last year, when offenses like littering and drinking on the beach were still considered criminal, the fine was $200 plus court costs. When those charges became civil offenses this year, the fine inadvertently went down to $50 and had to be adjusted, she said.
Fritchman’s team is now seeing the backlash from beachgoers who “become more belligerent” upon learning of the higher fine, he said.
“It was working well initially,” he said. “People being cited were a lot more understanding in the first few weeks of summer, (but now that the fines are higher) they’re not as willing to do the voluntary assessment. It’s a lot of money, I’ll say that.”
Vacationer Sam Shelton, of Harrisburg, Pa., said she can’t believe littering justifies such a severe fine.
“What if you accidentally leave trash behind?” she said. “I’m sure my friends and I have done that before. Stuff gets left behind and it’s not always on purpose.”
But Tush said the fine isn’t exorbitant, but right where it should be.
“It was brought to our attention after the fact that the fine had actually gone down,” she said. “So we raised it back up.”
The Dewey Beach Patrol issued almost a dozen citations Memorial Day weekend, all for open container alcohol consumption, Fritchman said, noting that his department has issued a total of 19 tickets this summer.
Higher fines or not, Tush said she believes the process is working well.
“This frees up the police and is a more friendly process,” she said. “When you’re arrested for a criminal offense, you have to be finger printed and so on. It seemed a little ridiculous for someone who is arrested for such a minor offense as littering to go through that whole process.”