Pinellas sheriff ready for beaches to reopen, expect lots of deputies

When Pinellas County reopens its world-famous beaches at 7 a.m. Monday, May 4, the public will not only get to enjoy the sun, sand and surf again, but they are also likely to get a personal greeting from local law enforcement.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says he is committed to making sure there is no repeat of what happened at the beach during spring break, which brought the county lots of unwelcome negative attention.

Gualtieri says there will be no big parties. Anyone who doesn’t maintain social distancing will be asked to leave. That means no groups of more than 10 and people have to stay spaced 6 feet apart.

During a May 1 County Commission meeting, Gualtieri said he was using a commonsense approach. He said that means if someone comes to the beach in a car with five people, those people can congregate as a group, but they can’t join with other groups.

A deputy will be stationed on the sand at all 213 access points. They’ll be in the beach parking lots. Thirty deputies on all-terrain vehicles will be patrolling the sand.

Clearwater police will take care of enforcement around Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach with help from deputies if needed, he said.

Nine deputies will be assigned to the Dunedin Causeway. The governor announced Friday afternoon that state parks would also reopen on Monday. Gualtieri had already planned to assign 11 deputies to Honeymoon Island State Park.

He plans to send 29 deputies to Indian Rocks Beach, 19 to Treasure Island, 35 to St. Pete Beach and seven to Gandy Beach. He said deputies also would be available to help cities with smaller beaches.

Nine marine units will patrol the Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf of Mexico. The sheriff’s helicopter will be in the air checking for density and helping deputies make sure people are not congregating.

He said if people begin to congregate, they will either be asked to leave or to move to less populated areas.

Deputies will be controlling traffic signals and making sure traffic flows smoothly. They’ll be checking for illegal parking on side streets.

There will be little wiggle room for the public to say they didn’t know about the rules. The county has printed 1,000 signs that will be posted along with 100 that are 4-foot by 8-foot in size. Electronic message boards also are being deployed.

The sheriff said he will keep the extra enforcement measures in place as long as they’re necessary. He anticipates more people coming out to the beach on Mother’s Day, May 10, which also is the first weekend after the beaches reopen.

“We want to make sure everyone is having a safe time,” Gualtieri said.

This piece appeared first on TBNWeekly.com. Suzette Porter is TBN’s Pinellas County editor. She can be reached at [email protected].