Wildwood boardwalk closed due to 'civil unrest'

WILDWOOD – Crowds of unruly youths put the "wild" in this beach town's name on Sunday night, leading to an hours-long shutdown of the boardwalk.

The closure took effect around 12:20 a.m. Monday in response to "numerous incidents of civil unrest," Wildwood police said in a Facebook post.

A state of emergency was lifted and the boardwalk re-opened at 6 a.m. on a rainy and overcast Memorial Day.

“Wildwood will not tolerate unruly, undisciplined, unparented children," Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said in a statement Monday.

The police response followed “an irrepressible number of calls for service” on Sunday night, the statement said.

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“Most of these calls were related to the extremely large number of young adults and juveniles that were in the city for the Memorial Day weekend,” it said.

“At the peak of this civil unrest, mutual aid requests were sent out to multiple agencies in Cape May County," the statement continued.

"Due to the high volume of calls, we were also unable to respond to certain calls for service within the city for a period of time."

The statement acknowledged the measures caused inconvenience, but said they were needed to maintain law and order.

An organization that promotes tourism in Wildwood and surrounding towns endorsed the police action.

"Although there were no major incidents reported," the state of emergency gave police "another tool they could use to control any crowds of young people from gathering," said the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority.

“We are deeply appreciative of the police departments of the Wildwoods for their proactive and diligent efforts to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors," said Louis Belasco, the group's president.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Wildwood police: Boardwalk closed to restore law and order