The boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey reopened early Monday after seeing access to the popular destination for Memorial Day beachgoers restricted overnight due to a state of emergency declaration.
As of about 5:30 a.m., police lifted the state of emergency saying that it was ended after "the City of Wildwood was able to effectively address numerous incidents of civil unrest and ensure the safety and welfare of our residents and visitors."
The restriction on boardwalk access was put in place after midnight, early Monday, due to, what police called "civil unrest threatening the public health, safety, and welfare of our residents and visitors alike."
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However, officials in Wildwood did not initially cite any specific incident as a reason for the earlier state of emergency declaration.
On Monday morning, NBC10's Brenna Weick was on the scene as police officials removed tape that had cordoned off the boardwalk overnight.
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An 'irrepressible number' of calls to police led to state of emergency declaration
On Monday afternoon, city officials provided an update -- released as a joint statement from the city's police officials as well as Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano, Jr., Commissioner of Public Safety Steve Mikulski, and Commissioner Krista McConnell -- that said the restrictions on the boardwalk overnight followed an "irrepressible number of calls for service in the City of Wildwood on the evening of Saturday, May 25, 2024. Most of these calls were related to the extremely large number of young adults and juveniles that were in the city for the Memorial Day weekend."
"At the peak of this civil unrest, mutual aid requests were sent out to multiple agencies in Cape May County. Due to the high volume of calls, we were also unable to respond to certain calls for service within the city for a period of time," the statement read. "On May 26, 2024, out of an abundance of caution, Chief Joseph Murphy advised the city commissioners along with the Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Wildwood that emergent conditions existed due to civil unrest threatening the public health, safety, and welfare of our residents and visitors alike."
Officials said that they then issued a local disaster emergency in the early morning hours of May 27, 2024, "when conditions again began to deteriorate despite the presence and efforts of local police officers and multiple mutual aid law enforcement agencies."
"Through the enactment of a state of emergency during the early morning hours of May 27, 2024, which included the closure of the boardwalk, the City of Wildwood was able to effectively address numerous incidents of civil unrest and ensure the safety and welfare of our residents and visitors," officials said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
'Wildwood will not tolerate unruly, undisciplined, unparented children'
“Wildwood will not tolerate unruly, undisciplined, unparented children nor will we stand by while the laws of the state tie the hands of the police," the mayor said, in that statement. "We wholeheartedly support the City of Wildwood Police Department in protecting this community from these nuisance crowds on our boardwalk and in the city.”
"While the actions taken by the city and City of Wildwood Police Department may have caused some inconvenience, these measures were necessary to ensure public safety and maintain law and order within our jurisdiction. As of this time, the state of emergency has been rescinded, and we thank everyone for their cooperation."
According to Mikulski, following issues on Saturday, measures were put in place to prevent further problems.
However, "the crowds necessitated the state of emergency" that was put in place overnight.
"We had measures in place ahead of the Sunday night crowds so that the police department could take these preemptive actions should the need arise. Unfortunately, the crowds necessitated the state of emergency to which our police department and other responding departments worked together to maintain order in the city," Mikulski wrote in a statement.
Citing Monday's holiday, officials declined to provide further comment or information on the state of emergency declaration.
Additionally, in a separate statement, officials with the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority said the state of emergency was only a "protective measure" and no major incidents were ever reported.
"The state of emergency was a proactive measure that was lifted a few hours later, and the Boardwalk has since reopened," the agency wrote in a statement. "Although there were no major incidents reported, the measure was taken by the City of Wildwood Police Department to give them another tool they could use to control any crowds of young people from gathering."
The boardwalk shutdown follows an incident that happened on Saturday in Ocean City, NJ, where crowds fled in a panic after a teen was stabbed on the boardwalk.
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