Public safety a hot topic in Dewey Beach
The first murder in the history of Dewey Beach has shaken residents to their core. While statistics show crime rates are falling, many residents say the town is attracting a more violent clientele, and it needs to change its image. Others say the murder is an isolated incident in a summer when crime appears to be on the decline.
More than 80 people gathered in a conference room of the Best Western Gold Leaf to hear a presentation on public safety. The meeting was called in the aftermath of tragedy: A young woman’s body was found June 18 in the Atlantic Oceanside Motel. Police say Danielle Mehlman, 26, had been stabbed to death by the man she checked into the hotel with the day before - Pawan Kumar, 26. Police say Kumar’s body was discovered June 19 in a New Jersey motor lodge; he died of a self-induced drug overdose.
Rumors of a rape occurring in June have swirled around town, but no report of the incident has been filed with Dewey Beach Police.
Representatives from Dewey Beach Patrol, Dewey Beach Police, Delaware Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement, Delaware Justice Information System and Delaware State Police each addressed the crowd, which overflowed into the neighboring conference room, to offer reassurance the town is safe.
Town Manager Bob Stickels said one permanent Dewey Beach Police officer recently resigned, which freed enough money to put more manpower on the streets for the two-week period surrounding Fourth of July.
Maj. Chip Simpson of Delaware State Police offered to send two state troopers to Dewey Beach for more than two weeks; it would have cost the town $17,000. But Simpson said more officers would not likely solve any problems in town. “We’re not going to police our way out of this,” he said.
Simpson said he would rather work cooperatively with Dewey Beach Police than send state troopers to police the town. “We have a great partnership with the chief, the town,” he said.
Simpson said people in general are more violent than they used to be. “Crime is different,” he said. “That’s nothing any of us up here can control.”
Stickels said council would pass on the troopers, but about seven more officers would be on the streets in Dewey at peak times around Independence Day.
Too much alcohol?
John Yeoman, director of Delaware Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement, and Kevin Jones, operations supervisor, said they have been to Dewey Beach 12 times since May to arrest underage drinkers and cite establishments that serve underage patrons. “We have not been a stranger to Dewey Beach,” Yeoman said.
“Dewey receives more attention than any other city in the state of Delaware with the exception of Wilmington,” Jones said. He said drinking in town does not appear any worse than in previous years.
Commissioner Jim Laird asked the division how it enforces not overserving alcohol to patrons.
“Under Delaware law, it is a misdemeanor to serve a person who is intoxicated or who appears to be intoxicated,” Jones said.
Jones said the division depends primarily on educating Delaware servers that it is illegal to serve someone who is drunk. He said to enforce the law, an agent must witness a server handing a drink to someone who is visibly intoxicated. “It’s not about what you know, it’s what you can prove,” Jones said.
Commissioner Joy Howell asked how the law could be enforced at establishments with more than one bar on site. “The most responsible bartender in the world can cut someone off, and they’ll just go over to another bar,” she said.
Jones said he had no good answer, and patrons buying drinks for intoxicated friends is another way to skirt the law. “We try to be as proactive as we can,” he said.
Yeoman said if council wanted the division to increase its presence, it could. “When we bring it, we can really bring it,” he said.
Dewey Beach crime stats
Peggy Bell manages and oversees crime statistics for every town in Delaware. She said crime rates in Dewey Beach have declined since 2006. “You’re a very lucky community because you have a low crime rate,” she said.
Bell said in 2006, Dewey Beach had eight rape and sexual-assault reports; in 2011 there were none. So far in 2012, there has been one report.
Assault and offensive touching reports have dropped from 180 in 2009 to about 40 so far in 2012. Burglaries declined from 36 in 2006 to 19 in 2011, to about 10 so far in 2012.
Bell said 2012 is only halfway over, but even if the numbers for 2012 tripled from where they are now, they would still be down from previous years.
Residents respond
Property owner Len Read said his home was broken into over Memorial Day weekend. He said overservice at bars could be a part of the town’s problem, but much of the rowdiness comes from group houses where visitors, including minors, binge drink before they hit the streets.
Read said the town needs better control of group houses.
Howell said businesses should contribute more to the police department’s $1.3 million budget.
Dewey Business Partnership Executive Director Kelly Ranieri said the partnership is planning to install surveillance cameras on the streets to improve town safety. The partnership also paid for additional police officers over Memorial Day weekend.
Claire Walsh, a lifelong resident, said the meeting was political, and it was about a few property owners who want businesses to pay more money.
Walsh said in the 1970s, two state troopers were posted on every street in Dewey Beach. Since then, she said, the town’s quality of life has gotten better. “We had one tragic incident,” Walsh said. “Don’t blow this out of proportion.”
Rick Judge, another lifelong resident, said the major problem in the 1970s was alcohol on the beach. Now, he said, tourists are preying on the town. “We have the wrong kind of clientele in this town,” he said.
Commissioner Anna Legates, who has lived in the town for more than 30 years, said, “There’s a new element in Dewey.” She said in the 1970s, people drank alcohol to relax and have fun; now people drink to pass out.
“It may never be perfect,” Legates said of Dewey Beach. “But it can be better.”
