Arrests aplenty this Memorial Day weekend. By Frank Maradiaga
This year’s Urban Beach weekend didn’t go viral, but judging from police figures there was plenty of debauchery to be had.
Miami Beach Police and assisting agencies made a whopping 414 arrests during the Memorial Day weekend. That’s up 41 from last year’s arrest totals, but ranks 3rd highest in the last five years. In 2009 and 2011 the MBPD recorded 548 and 431 respectively.
As in years past, a fair amount of bookings were either drug related, or for acting disorderly in public.
MBPD recorded 73 felony arrests, of which 29 were drug related, 27 labeled other , and 4 for aggravated assault.
The majority of arrests were for misdemeanors; 341 in total, with pack leaders of 95 drug busts, 34 for disorderly conduct, 19 for disorderly intoxication, and 15 for simple battery.
Eight were caught driving under the influence. Three of those were snared on Friday, the day of the painfully slow DUI checkpoint on the MacArthur Causeway.
A local blogger took to twitter to yell at the city’s account: ARE YOU KIDDING ME???, tweeted the Soul of Miami account usually controlled by Miami Beach resident James Echols, YOU JUST COST ME AN HOUR!!!
The majority of those arrested this weekend were from Florida: 46 Miami Beach residents, 132 were from Miami-Dade, and 100 were from other parts of the state.
Out-of-state arrests numbered at 98, the lowest it has been in the past five years. Another 35 were from parts unknown.
Broken down by race and gender, MBPD recorded 230 black males, and 133 white males were arrested during the weekend. As for the women, 27 black females and 24 white females were arrested according to police figures.
Calls to Police were down from other years, but was still at a hefty 2107.
About Frank M
