COURT HOUSE – Middle Township joined with other Cape May County municipalities April 17 by inserting “breach of the peace” language into several ordinances that deal with unwanted behavior.
The concept originated in Ocean City and is the latest attempt by municipalities to provide police with better “tools” for dealing with rowdy or destructive behavior like that seen at the H2oi incident in Middle Township and Wildwood in September 2022.
The new language allows an added dimension for officers trying to deal with destructive or safety issues. It grew up in response to rowdy groups of juveniles that have plagued the county’s island resort towns for the last few years.
Feeling hemmed in by more restrictive state statutes or directives, towns have looked to their own local ordinances as a source of added control.
A breach of the peace would allow a custodial arrest if the officer felt that all other reasoned avenues to address a situation or a repeat offender had failed.
Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner described it as a way to give officers “added confidence” that the municipality “supported them” when they took more drastic action than the now common curbside warnings. The officer now would have the option of taking action based on local ordinances if needed.
Across over a dozen areas of local ordinances, the language will state that a violation of the section constitutes a “breach of the peace.” The approach is one supported by Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland.
The action must be done through ordinance amendments and that will require a public hearing on the matter in May.
So far, there has been no discussion about whether this strategy could be challenged in court, given that it elevates a great deal of disparate behavior to the level of breach of the peace.
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