Jax Beach City Council said it will look at improving its special events permit ordinance and reach out to the City of Jacksonville for support.
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — More money and more officers.
That’s what some neighbors asked Jacksonville Beach City Council to give to the police department.
It comes one day after three shootings in the bar district left one person dead and others wounded.
Sunday, hundreds of teens gathered at Jacksonville Beach to fight according to police.
Police say the three shootings happened nearby.
“[I want to] thank the Chief of Police for this shooting not turning into the shootout at the O.K. Corral,” another neighbor said.
Chief of police Gene Paul Smith was at Monday’s meeting and said policing the city’s growing population is a challenge.
“We need money, and we need funding for our officers,” one neighbor said.
“We need to give Chief Smith more,” another said.
City Council agreed with neighbors and discussed allocating more money in its budget for police.
Right now, it discussed a temporary pause on issuing special event permits to give the council time to tighten up its special events ordinance.
The city attorney said tightening up the ordinance may allow police to question large groups who may not have permits.
“We need to do something that’s going to address the situation for this week,” councilmember Sandy Golding said.
Golding wants Jax Beach to reach out to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and beaches councilmember, Rory Diamond, for help right now.
“People need to think twice about carrying unlawful activities into our community,” neighbor, Jennifer Crews, said.
Crews said she doesn’t feel safe in her neighborhood and wants people to enjoy Jax Beach and not worry about a shootout.
“This is not the wild, wild west we are a civilized supposed to be law abiding community and I can’t imagine how we got to this point,” Crews said.
In a text message to First Coast News reporter Andrew Badillo, Diamond said he would do anything Jax Beach Mayor Chris Hoffman needs to support the community.
Hoffman said she’d like city staff to look at the special permits ordinance to see what their options are so it can be addressed as soon as possible.
