Miami Beach police measures keep Spring Break's peak crowds at a minimum
MIAMI BEACH - Police and state troopers swarmed parts of Miami Beach running checkpoints to catch drunk drivers and people with open warrants.
The move is part of the city's crackdown on Spring Break to prevent a return of violence seen in prior years.
However, some business owners and people checking into hotels ran into trouble too.
More traffic rolled away than towards South Beach early Friday evening.
Between the DUI checkpoints, troopers using license plate readers to find people with warrants and parking bans for visitors, the first wave of Spring Break's peak crowds barely caused a ripple.
"The goal is very simple," Christopher Bess, spokesperson for the City of Miami Beach Police Department, said. "Our city is breaking up with Spring Break. What that means is we're breaking up with the bad behavior, the unlawful behavior that we've seen in previous years."
Last March, gunfire killed two people on Ocean Drive. One year later, visitors saw a 6 p.m. beach curfew, roadblocks, barricades, armored police trucks and more uniforms than ever.
"This is too much," Ru Smith, a college student from Boston said. "They're just scaring people away."
"I'm waiting to get my truck from in there and I can't get it," Michelle Smith, of Boston said of her pick-up parked in a lot on 5th Street Friday evening.
People parked in the wrong spot face towing bills more expensive than usual.
"(My) tow was $345," Sebastian Huidobro said. "They want cash. They only take cash."
A tourist from Orlando who identified himself only as Jeff said a city contractor towed his rental car as he checked into an Airbnb on Collins Avenue.
"We just saw friends and they parked," Jeff said. "We literally went in, checked the place up, boom. Boom. Gone."
He paid $545 to retrieve the vehicle, Jeff said.
City leaders suggested visitors take Ubers to avoid expected traffic. However, Smith claimed drivers avoided her group.
"We have to walk because the Ubers can't even get to the road that we need to get to," she said. "So we have to walk and it's not safe at night."
On the water around the Barrier Island, parties cruised. However, Party Boat Bobby said some of his customers canceled trips with South Beach Charter Tours. Those customers sounded afraid to get stuck in traffic between the charter company's dock in Venetian Marina in Miami and Miami Beach.
"I think it's important to maintain a safety aspect but to shut down all traffic patterns: people just don't want to come," "Party Boat" Bobby Dlite, South Beach Party Boats owner, said. "They're scared to come. They don't want to get caught in the traffic."
Police caught some drivers with open containers of alcohol Friday. Officers and state troopers will run the same checkpoints and security measures Saturday and Sunday evening.