People gather while exiting the area as an 8 p.m. curfew goes into effect on March 21, 2021, in Miami Beach. Police reported hundreds of arrests and stepped up deployment to control the growing spring break crowds. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A hundred troopers have been deployed to help cities around Florida deal with the wave of spring breakers in the coming weeks, Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a Thursday press conference in Miami Beach.
Drones and K-9s will be available to help keep the peace until April, DeSantis said, highlighting that the city’s campaign last year to break up with spring break had been successful. The governor said Miami Beach saw 16 felony and 17 misdemeanor arrests in 2024. In previous years, the city has declared states of emergency and 2023 saw 488 arrests and two fatal shootings, according to ABC News.
“Last year, they really had a great plan for this,” DeSantis said. “They welcomed people. It’s a very welcoming city. But at the same time, we can’t have things just descend into madness, and mayhem, and chaos.”
This year, Miami Beach is putting spring breakers on notice to expect to pay $100 for parking, sobriety checkpoints, curfews, and heavy police presence.
“We kept people safe, and our businesses boomed, flourished,” said Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner. “We had calm instead of chaos as we saw in years past, but I always say it’s not just the month of March; law and order is 365 days of the year.”
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