(The following is a public safety announcement Hermosa Beach residents received regarding 4th of July festivities and law enforcement)
Hello, this is a message from Interim Police Chief Michael McCrary. I am calling to let you know that the Hermosa Beach police will be working hard to protect the public’s safety in our city on the Fourth of July.
As you may know, unruly crowds and intoxicated individuals have endangered themselves and the public on this holiday in previous years.
This Fourth of July will be different in Hermosa Beach.
We have launched a coordinated education and enforcement campaign to protect the public.
We will be tripling the number of law enforcement personnel in Hermosa Beach starting at 10 a.m. on July 4. We also will triple the fines for drinking in public beginning July 1.
This increased enforcement will make it possible for us to strictly enforce laws banning public intoxication, drinking alcohol on the beach or in public, driving while intoxicated and using illegal drugs.
We will also be enforcing a new law that could cost teens their drivers’ licenses if they’re drinking alcohol on the beach or in public.
Please let your friends and family know about this strict enforcement. And please make this a safe and happy Fourth of July for everyone by obeying the laws, respecting your neighbors and celebrating responsibly.
Thank you for your time and attention. For more information, please visit the city’s website – Hermosa bch.org
All of us at the City of Hermosa Beach wish you and your family a happy and safe Fourth of July.
This ends the July Fourth Public Safety message.
Ironman questioned
Dear ER:
I just received my letter from Hermosa Beach’s Interim Police Chief Michael McCrary, dated June 24, 2013 discussing how they’re going crack down on public drinking on the beach.
As a retired Law Enforcement Officer and long-time resident of Hermosa Beach, I am disgusted and appalled with this letter to the residents of Hermosa Beach. I noticed that McCrary specifically identified when he was going to begin his “strict enforcement of alcohol and drug laws” which was 10 a.m. on July 4th. This is to accommodate the Hermosa Beach Ironman event, which includes drinking alcohol on the beach.
You can not selectively enforce laws whenever you want. You either enforce the laws to everybody all the time; or to no one all the time. How can McCrary be taken serious by this selective enforcement?
What kind of message are you sending by allowing drinking on the beach for some and deny others from drinking later? For McCrary not to recognize that the “raucous behavior, excessive public drunkenness and disturbances” he identifies in his letter doesn’t start with the downing of a six-pack by an individual during the Ironman…I’m not saying all the participants of the Ironman continue their day towards achieving drunkenness, but certainly some do. It sends the wrong message, McCrary, and you of all people should know that.
My other gripe is they’re going to allow the drinking during the Ironman and then come the beach concerts later in the summer, families of Hermosa Beach go down to enjoy a bottle of wine get harassed by the Police. Either enforce the drinking ban or don’t.
Name withheld
Hermosa Beach
Ironman defended
Having survived WW2 and the Great Depression, the ethos of a far more industrious generation has given way to a coddled society. Consumerism, fed by asset appreciation ceded our industrial knowhow to the slave state of China, infecting a large proportion of Americans with bloated needs and entitlements which can never be met. Fading away is the general belief that intense enjoyment can be had by small pleasures, a boisterous few demanding regulation and regimentation over freedom and liberty. So it’s little wonder that something trivial as the Ironman would spur vehement opposition from some with too much spare time.
The problems caused by legions of amateurs who just recently discovered alcohol are not anyway connected or associated with the Ironman. Besides benefitting Huntington’s Research and the Jimmy Miller Surf Camps, the collection of men and women who participate each year do so, more in recognition of life’s fleeting nature than getting a quick buzz. Indeed, the yearly early morning meeting of friends and neighbors serves a fitting celebration of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, reinforcing what made America great.
Robert “Burgie” Benz
Former Hermosa Beach councilman
Dear ER:
I believe our police chief and city manager are doing a fine job with respect to protecting the public and respecting our unique beach culture. I’m in favor of the current priorities and I’ve voted for public officials that advance these priorities.
Public officials including our city manager and specifically our police officers and public prosecutors must routinely balance the need to enforce our public laws and the weight of burdening a community with the costs both financially and culturally of strict compliance. The public is not well served with a heavy police hand, a drain on public resources and lost time pursuing laws that don’t further our joi de vivre. How we as a public perceive this balance informs our public discourse and desire to live, shop and enjoy the public square. It’s not an easy balance with the many competing priorities. I like our current balance and the one currently advanced by our city officials.
I both welcome our chief of police’s note to the public about increased patrols, lower tolerance for public drinking on The Strand and yes, the continuation of the Hermosa Ironman competition.
If our community doesn’t like this balance, vote in different priorities.
Bruce Greenspon
Hermosa Beach
