No one’s getting any vacation time off this week at the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department because it will have plenty to do with the Fourth of July on Friday.
Sheriff Chuck Heit tells us not only will his deputies be providing security at the St. Joseph fireworks show on Thursday night, but they’ll also be at the Baroda fireworks and the New Buffalo fireworks, all on the same night. Plus, the Red Bud Track and Trail event in Buchanan is this week.
Heit urged everyone to take extra steps to be safe.
“We will have extra staffing down at the beach,” Heit said. “And for the overall weekend, obviously we want people to be safe. So like we have said in other ones, if you’re going to drink alcohol, make sure you have a plan of a designated driver and plan for that ahead of time.”
Heit says the sheriff’s department will be looking for drunk drivers and watching out for fireworks mishaps.
As for Silver Beach, with recent closures due to fights, Heit says the sheriff’s department is keeping an extra presence there.
“When you look at the amount of time the beach has been open, the hours and days, we’ve had three incidents. They’ve happened normally at the last hour…the park time. So we’ll continue to make sure we’ve got some staffing there and work with St. Joe Department of Public Safety.”
Heit says those incidents have all involved younger offenders. He’s been talking to the county corporate counsel about using things like trespassing laws to deal with troublemakers at the beach. He’s also talking with the county juvenile center to help ensure youth busted for causing trouble can be held accountable. And Heit says he’s authorized those who are written up for disturbing the peace to be lodged in jail, rather than being given a simple citation. Usually, the department only lodges someone in the jail if they’ve committed a 90-day misdemeanor.
Apart from Silver Beach, the sheriff’s department reminds all to keep water handy if shooting off fireworks and to look up local and state laws on when it’s permissible to do so.