Hundreds of officers, thousands of barricades and large crowds to fill Grand Strand streets Memorial Day weekend

The Grand Strand will look different to many residents and tourists in town on Memorial Day weekend because of a number of new strategies aiming to get control of the crowds – including a 23-mile traffic loop, an increased and more visible police presence, and new technology and equipment.

Residents and officials estimate that Memorial Day attracts anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people who come to town to take advantage of a three-day weekend or participate in festivals such as the Atlantic Beach Bikefest.

Plans have been put in place aiming to make the weekend a safe one after three people died and seven were injured in eight shootings on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach last year. Officials say that with those plans, they are ready for the weekend. Some residents agree, others don’t.

Brad Dean, president and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber and local businesses appreciate local officials’ efforts.

“Custom maps have been created, a special app was developed, targeted videos were released and promotion is underway,” Dean said in an email. “When [the chamber] offered to pay for additional police protection, our hope was that there would be a noticeable increase in badges and blue lights to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors, and that appears to be in place.”

Dean said time will only tell if the changes will yield a “noticeable impact” on the lawlessness that can occur on Memorial Day weekend.

“We are pleased with the planning effort and now the main question is whether or not those visiting our community will choose to act responsibly,” Dean said.

Myrtle Beach resident Steve Bassett, who has written letters to the editor to The Sun News saying that he wants Bikefest to end, said he’s not sure if the plans in place will work, but said he supports the efforts that have been made.

Bob Morris, a Carolina Shores, N.C., resident, also said he is not sure the plans will have an impact on lawlessness during Memorial Day weekend, but wishes that law enforcement spent as much time, money and energy working to get control of crime year-round.

“If we put more interest in what happens here all year, we’ll get more results with more impact,” he said. “Why focus on three days out of 365? Myrtle Beach has the reputation as being a ‘sin city’ area. Where you have tourists, you have crime, you have drugs, you have prostitutes, you have people taking advantage of those tourists who come to town and may have their guard down.”

Morris, who is white, said he also thinks a lot of the things he’s read from comments on The Sun News website and in letters to the editor are racially tinged.

“I think we have a subconscious and even a conscious racial bias,” he said. “All I’ve read is about barbarians, animals, thugs. … I’m just spelling it out here – it’s prejudice.”

Bikefest began as a rally for black motorcyclists in the early 1980s in Atlantic Beach. Since then, the festival has grown to the point that attendees not only fill the four-block town, but the crowd spills into other areas of the Grand Strand.

Atlantic Beach officials expect to have packed streets all weekend, with vendors lining 30th and 31st avenues South.

“There is going to be a large number of people here,” Randy Webster, director of Horry County Emergency Management, said. “It’s a holiday weekend. There will be lots of congestion.

“The way I think about it, if I were in a plane above [the Grand Strand] looking down, I would see a lot of people and a lot of traffic directional devices,” Webster said.

Traffic control

Several new traffic plans will be in effect on Memorial Day weekend, most notably a 23-mile traffic loop that begins in Myrtle Beach.

Officials say establishing the loop, in effect from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. May 22 to 24, is aimed at keeping traffic moving, because congestion leads to “parking lot parties” that could lead to violence.

The loop routes drivers from 29th Avenue North on Ocean Boulevard south and around to Kings Highway, north to Harrelson Boulevard – which turns into George Bishop Parkway – west to Waccamaw Boulevard, which runs next to U.S. 501, onto S.C. 31 heading north to Grissom Parkway south, then onto U.S. 17 Bypass and down 29th Avenue North.

Myrtle Beach also is bringing back a dedicated emergency lane and only allowing one-way traffic on Ocean Boulevard from May 22 to 24 – 24 hours a day – beginning at 29th Avenue North.

Myrtle Beach fire Chief Alvin Payne said ambulances will be staged along Ocean Boulevard at 18th Avenue South, Fifth Avenue South, and Ninth Avenue North.

“We’ll be in three strategic locations to provide a quick response when we’re needed,” he said. “As those [ambulances] get utilized, we’ll move another ambulance in.”

Horry County also will have ambulances staged at various areas across the county, fire Chief Fred Crosby said.

The city previously had one-way traffic with an emergency lane for nearly 10 years and stopped using it after 2008, when police Chief Warren Gall said the crowds in town began getting smaller.

Bike racks will line both sides of Ocean Boulevard to keep pedestrians separate from vehicular traffic – another strategy officials say will keep street parties to a minimum.

The city has purchased nearly $1 million in barricades, bike racks, cones and message boards to help control and direct traffic.

New this year in Myrtle Beach is a traffic chute set up on Kings Highway at 29th Avenue North to control festival traffic to Ocean Boulevard.

North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling said the traffic chute at 30th Avenue South – the entrance to Atlantic Beach Bikefest – has been used for at least 10 years. Since then the crowds of people have expanded to other areas of the Grand Strand.

The chute will go into effect around 5 a.m. May 22 and come down the morning of May 25, Dowling said.

Surfside Beach officials said they saw the first real increase in visitors during Memorial Day weekend last year and started taking steps to prepare for the crowds this Memorial Day.

But there aren’t plans for special traffic patterns that weekend, Mayor Doug Samples said.

“We’re going to play it by ear,” he said. “If the streets are overcrowded, we will restrict traffic if we have to.”

Increased police presence

Hundreds of additional police officers are expected to be in town for Memorial Day weekend, with some funded through a last-minute state budget amendment proposed by the chamber to allow up to one-third of the accommodations tax money it receives to pay for those officers.

Dean said the chamber again has asked the local state delegation to support the amendment for Memorial Day weekend next year.

Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach took advantage of the budget amendment, requesting to use 15 percent and one-third, respectively. That is expected to result in about $280,000 for Myrtle Beach and about $55,000 in Surfside Beach.

Myrtle Beach is expecting to spend about $1.9 million on police services Memorial Day weekend.

The city will use money collected from a 2-mill property tax increase City Council approved in September, which is expected to be about $665,000, in addition to the $300,000 that already had been budgeted for public safety that weekend.

The state also is planning to send about 400 combined officers from S.C. Law Enforcement Divisions and S.C. Highway Patrol to the Grand Strand, about 130 more than last year. Those officers are assigned throughout the Grand Strand.

All of Myrtle Beach’s officers – around 220 – will be working Memorial Day weekend, and this year they will be easier to see.

Officers will wear shirts with bright yellow on them to not only make it easier for those in need to spot them, but also to make their presence known.

Each officer will be assigned to patrol smaller areas of Ocean Boulevard this year, covering a three- to four-block area as opposed to a five- to seven-block area last year.

Myrtle Beach police spokesman Lt. Joey Crosby said officials have not yet determined how many officers will be assigned to each three- to four-block area. Last year, about four officers were assigned to the larger area.

Capt. Amy Prock told Myrtle Beach City Council that the city has signed mutual aid agreements with 270 in-state municipal officers, 150 state police officers from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and 30 constables, who are volunteer police officers.

All 21 sworn police officers in Surfside Beach will be working this year, with 13 officers coming to town through mutual aid agreements, Samples said.

The town saw a jump in tourists in town and traffic congestion last year and are preparing for big numbers this year as well.

“We’re taking precautionary steps and planning based on being prepared for the increased number of visitors we have in town,” he said.

North Myrtle Beach has about 70 officers that will be working all weekend and 100 officers from about 25 outside agencies – 60 more officers than last year, Dowling said.

About 20 SLED officers and a number of Highway Patrol officers will be stationed in Atlantic Beach to help the town’s two-person full-time police force.

Atlantic Beach police Chief Timothy Taylor said he is working on agreements with three chiefs from across South Carolina to help out on Memorial Day weekend as well.

Horry County also will have more officers on the streets dedicated to Memorial Day weekend patrolling, with a focus along U.S. 17 Business in Little River, Restaurant Row, Myrtle Beach and Garden City Beach, Chief Saundra Rhodes said.

About 60 Horry County officers will be dedicated to Bikefest patrolling, with about 45 state officers helping the county. This is the first time the county has requested additional help, Rhodes said.

“We’ll also have a larger presence of officers patrolling the highways – along [state highways] 22, 31 and 9,” she said.

There are no plans for checkpoints, Rhodes said.

“We’re going to police it the way we normally do: firm, but fair,” she said.

Technology and equipment

Technology and traffic control equipment will be highly visible throughout Myrtle Beach especially, with the city spending about $3.7 million over the next few years to help police on Memorial Day weekend and officials say the purchases also will be used year-round.

The city will pay $930,000 to purchase 10,000 barricades, barriers and traffic cones over the next three years. Myrtle Beach police officials have about 200 body cameras that are in use that cost about $200,000.

Myrtle Beach also is in the process of installing 800 cameras at 200 locations throughout the city, with a focus on Ocean Boulevard and the beach accesses. The cameras cost about $800,000 and the infrastructure to support them will cost the city about $1.3 million over three years.

Last fall, the city spent $140,000 for a SkyWatch surveillance tower, which Crosby said will be used somewhere along Ocean Boulevard on Memorial Day weekend.

More officers along the Grand Strand will have body cams.

Surfside Beach purchased 23 cameras for every officer who works full and part time.

North Myrtle Beach has 10 body cameras now and will purchase 60 more in the fall. Those cameras will equip all uniform patrol. Next year the city plans to purchase another 35 cameras for criminal investigation, training and communications officers as well as beach patrol.

The cameras and network upgrades will cost $64,000 over two years, Dowling said.

Horry County does not have any body cameras. Law enforcement requested funding for them from Horry County Council at its recent budget retreat. That request could be included when County Council approves its annual budget in June.

Horry County does, however, have an armored vehicle, but police spokesman Lt. Raul Denis said there are no plans to use it on Memorial Day weekend.

“If there’s a massive armed conflict or a bomb scare, where you would need something like that, then we’ll use it,” Denis said. “It won’t be used for crowd control. It won’t just be out there on the streets.”

This story was originally published April 25, 2015 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Hundreds of officers, thousands of barricades and large crowds to fill Grand Strand streets Memorial Day weekend."