Spring Breakers, it’s not your fault!
Hope everyone had a restful break this past week and didn’t forget to use sunscreen:)
And hopefully no one was arrested at the beach…but if you were, hey, the Sheriff of Panama City Beach, Florida (otherwise known as “PCB”) says “It’s not your fault.” Check out this recent VIDEO from a local news station in the Panama City, Florida area.
So during the spring break “window” arrests have more than doubled over the past year for this area, but it’s not a “student problem?” It seemed like the sheriff has a “beef” regarding his recent budget request, as he mainly talks about the student to police officer ratio (1000 to 1). Interestingly we never really hear who the real culprits are filling the jails in Panama City. Hmmm…thoughts?
I understand and have heard stories of people who went of spring break trips where there were way more people than expected and lots of things happened (most illegally) that were never caught due to the lack of officers. It is interest and I am curios to know that if the rise in arrest were not students then who were they and why were they arrested. It does makes sense that the officer wants to budget in more precautionary stuff as well as get more officers to be in the area because as soon as the reputation of a spring break area goes bad the city could lose lots of revenue.
I love this article because I actually have been discussing this issue lately with my boyfriend (we think the norm of having to have a drink once you’re 21 is ridiculous) and the topic goes so deep sociologically and psychologically, I could write a book (but I’ll try not to(; ).
Foremost, I completely agree with the Sheriff and the news anchors, yet, at the same time, I disagree wholeheartedly with both.
On one hand, yes, it is college students who are to blame for many of the arrests. Why? Because many college students do take part in spring break and go, let’s just say, a little too crazy living out their “college aspirations” and find themselves in the very place our Punishment and Corrections class just visited: jail.
However, on the other hand, and this is where I agree with the Sheriff, there are many college students who do not find themselves in jail or contribute to the chaos spring break now is.
For example, I lived out my party days in high school and realized it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. Therefore, for my spring break, yes, I did have a drink ( or two(; ) but it was with my family and my significant other and done responsibly in my own home. I didn’t break the law, didn’t contribute to chaos, and still had fun. (I also don’t live on campus and have cut out bad influences in my life).
What I believe to be the problem is simply the phenomenon spring break has become. Just as I mentioned before, the norm being so strong for one who has just turned 21 to go out and drink, the norm is also just as strong for students (not only college students, remember, many of us have drank before it was legal!) to “party it up” as one would say for spring break. I also believe that simply it being spring break time, many other people who are not college students come to join the fun. Many of these people may be the ones causing a lot of the problems, as well.
But at the end of the day, any time there is a large event, may it be holidays, black Friday, concerts, etc., where there are large amounts of people, there is chaos to follow. (Especially where there is alcohol and drugs). And there are always certain groups of people who are thrown under the bus to take the blame. It’s stereotyping at it’s best.
Spring break has a reputation of being a time to let loose and go wild. To follow that reputation, one must usually have a few drinks and use some drugs. So I am not surprised that the spring break window has had many more arrests than the typical week. Although, it is interesting that the sheriff is not putting the blame on students. Maybe he does not want to put it out on the news that students are causing chaos because they do bring revenue to Panama City. Or it is possible that he does not want to make it known that students are getting arrested so they do not have to deal with the backlash from parents. So I do not know the truth of the underlying cause for an increase in arrests, but it does seem suspicious.
I have been to one of the popular spring break destinations in the past and I got to see how crazy it really gets but I never saw anyone getting in trouble or being arrested. It was just a bunch of drunk college students partying all day but I can see how that could increase the number of arrests. I guess I’m curious who are the ones being arrested during spring break then if it isn’t the college students since they are the ones filling Panama City Beach during those weeks. For those being arrested during spring break, if it mostly isn’t college students being arrested, I wonder why the arrests are increasing during the spring break weeks.
Having driven through Panama City Beach during spring break last year I can say that it does get very crowded and very chaotic. Most of these spring breakers are students, but also younger aged individuals that are not necessarily college students.
I suspect that the individuals being arrested are the opportunists who are traveling to destinations, such as Panama City Beach, and taking advantage of the situation. These opportunists may be trying to make quick money by selling students drugs, alcohol, strippers, prostitutes, weapons, and more. Not only are the sellers coming to these cities but also the predators, who rob the drunk students or sexually assault them.
After commenting I realized I’ve actually watched an episode of Drugs, Inc. titled Spring Break. In the episode drug dealers purposely travel to spring break destinations to sell drugs to the students to make a lot of money. In this episode the Lynch Mob aimed to make over half a million dollars in profit during spring break, and the episode is described as “for one month each year, on the sun drenched beaches of Florida, thrill seeking college students and money hungry drug dealers collide with the long, tanned arm of the law to create a perfect storm of drug fueled mayhem.” Here is a clip of the episode if you would like to watch it:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/drugs-inc/episodes/spring-break/
It shows Lynch Mob members buying a million dollars worth of molly.
I found it interesting to hear the sheriff speak of college “spring breakers” as not being the contributing factor, yet not delving into specifics of what he thought could be the reason why there are double the amount of people in the jail system during the allotted spring break time. Not knowing who is really inhibiting the jails during this time is a problem to viewers who are interested in the story and wanting facts from the news source. The problem with not having enough officers seems to be a topic of concern as well, for the safety of the other tourists in the area.