Beach area residents have a new tool they can use to teach beach rule-breakers a lesson: hand them a broom.
The Beach Area Community Court ” in cooperation with Councilmember Kevin Faulconer’s Office, the City of San Diego’s Neighborhood Prosecution Unit and beach area residents ” added sweeping the boardwalk in Mission Beach to its list of community service jobs for individuals cited for minor beach-related criminal offenses.
On Sept. 1, approximately 27 individuals helped clean the Mission Beach boardwalk from 8:30 a.m. to noon in return for waiving fines for tickets for offenses such as having glass on the beach, smoking on the beach or having an open container on the boardwalk.
Residents’ concerns over the boardwalk not being swept often enough led the court to add the chore to the community service program.
“A lot of people who break the law in Pacific Beach don’t live here,” said Benjamin Nicholls, executive director for Discover Pacific Beach. “They pay a fine and don’t connect their punishment or penance back to the community,”
The idea, Nicholls said, is to have the offenders serve the community where they committed the offense, not only as a punishment but to change their attitudes about how their actions affect the surrounding community.
Usually ranging in ages from 18 to 30, first-time violators of a beach ordinance get one chance to make amends through the program. Repeat offenders or persons with criminal backgrounds are not given the option of participating in the program, said Teresa Martin, neighborhood prosecutor for the City Attorney’s Office.
“It’s a one time deal,” she said.
Martin acts as a community liaison between the City Attorney’s Office and the Mission and Pacific beach town councils, she said.
The offenders get a clean record and no fine in exchange for four hours of Community Court proceedings and four hours of doing outside chores, such as posting the beach rules at designated locations, picking up trash on the beach or even tearing down abandoned transient camps near Mission Bay Drive, Martin said. Suggestions for court assignments come from the community during town council meetings.
After receiving a citation for an infraction such as having an open container on the boardwalk or smoking on the beach, the suspected violators can opt to attend community court on a given Thursday. The court usually meets once a month; however, during the summer the court convened as often as once a week because of the increase in beach-related violations, she added.
During court, violators meet with a panel of neighbors and have a discussion about the impact of their crimes on the community.
“The [court panel] participants feel happier because they vent and talk to people who are coming into their community and violating the [law],” she said
The second part of the court involves a presentation given by an emergency room nurse about the dangers of being under the influence of alcohol. The following Saturday, the group goes into the Mission and Pacific beach areas to work off their sentence.
Since its inception in 2005, about 650 participants have gone through the program with only one recidivist. The person was cited for an alcohol related offence and the second time for having an unleashed dog, Martin said.