Law enforcement on Anna Maria Island report calm spring break with no major problems

ANNA MARIA ISLAND -- Law enforcement officials on Anna Maria Island have reported a mild spring break this year, despite traffic congestion and large crowds being synonymous with the 7-mile barrier island during the holiday.

"We're lucky that our spring breaks generally are quite calm," said Bradenton Beach Police Chief Sam Speciale. "We don't have a lot of issues with the partying and drinking that a lot of other spring break areas have. All in all, it was just a normal spring break out here."

Last Wednesday, however, was the furthest from smooth for the agency. Roughly 650 teens from Manatee County high schools hung out at the public beach that day with police having to break up at least one fight and clear the parking lot. No arrests were made.

At 3:41 p.m. that day, Speciale sent Manatee County Commissioner an email with the subject headline "Manatee County Spring Break."

"Just to let you know what we're dealing with out here today," Speciale wrote in the message. "The stuff on the car windshield is spit."

Attached to the police chief's email were multiple photos of large crowds of youth at Coquina Beach,

and another of spit stains on a Bradenton Beach police vehicle. In one photo, the young beachgoers are looking at the camera with smiles, some with their hands raised in a celebratory manner.

"He was our ward commissioner and, sometimes, everybody in town realizes how busy it gets out here," Speciale said of the email he had sent Commissioner John Chappie. "But with the amount of manpower that I have out here and the amount of people, I just wanted him to know what we were dealing with out here."

The Manatee County Sheriff's Office provided additional units to the Bradenton Beach Police Department.

According to Speciale, there were no "spring break related arrests" in the city, and the city clerk office reported between 80 and 100 parking tickets issued during the holiday period.

In the city of Holmes Beach, between March 1 and March 27 there were 29 arrests, 377 parking tickets, 55 city ordinance alcohol violations, and 229 traffic citations, according to the Holmes Beach Police Department. Other than that, Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer reported no major incidents in the city.

"We did have a lot of people out here and everybody in Holmes Beach was well-behaved," he said. "We had a couple incidents where people left their trash behind. Alcohol violations was our biggest thing."

To combat the issue of illegal alcohol consumption on Manatee Public beach, Tokajer said his agency is very proactive in patrolling the beach.

"We had extra manpower during the entirety of spring break, so that we could be highly visible. The high visibility does deter the inappropriate actions of others," the police chief said. "We'll continue that in the future."

The number of parking tickets issued by the agency this year was a decrease from last year, which saw 512 tickets issued during the month of March.

"We also had a few days of rain and inclement weather this spring break, which definitely played a part in it," Tokajer added.

Sgt. Russell Schnering, the new head of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office Anna Maria Unit, said he didn't think there were any arrests during spring break. Figures were not immediately available for the city of Anna Maria.

"The week of spring break was busy, but we had very well-behaved visitors," he said. "We didn't really have any major problems at all."

Though law enforcement officials reported a calm spring break, Holmes Beach resident Margie Motzer Motzer said it's been a "highly stressful" time.

"We came home from an Easter Sunday dinner at 5 p.m. and listened to yelling, screaming, shouting from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.," the 64-year-old retired teacher said of vacation rental units behind her home. "It has been extremely stressful."

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 11:21 PM with the headline "Law enforcement on Anna Maria Island report calm spring break with no major problems ."