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The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office made 508 arrests during Spring Break 2017, up from 393 in 2016. The vast majority of the arrests were for underage possession of alcohol but there were also 22 narcotics arrests, one open house party arrest, two DUI’s, and two arrests for providing alcohol to persons under the age of 21.
91 juveniles between the ages of 13 and 17 were issued notices to appear before a judge.
The increase in Spring Break arrests is attributed to the time period increasing from five to seven weeks overall, as well as a ban on alcoholic beverages on Orange Beach Alabama beaches during Spring Break.
The top colleges for arrests by the OCSO were Louisiana State University (34), University of Louisiana Lafayette (23), and the University of Alabama (23).
The high schools with the highest numbers of arrests/Notices to Appear were Saint Xavier High School in Kentucky (10), West Forsyth High School in Georgia (10), and Saint Paul’s High School in Louisiana (7).
A major incident during Spring Break involved a shark bite. A 17-year old tourist from Louisville Kentucky suffered six non-life-threatening puncture wounds while swimming the in the Gulf of Mexico behind a condominium at 1040 East Highway 98 in Destin.
Meantime, OCSO Deputies say the zero tolerance policy on underage alcohol consumption helped ensure Okaloosa County maintained a stronger family-friendly Spring Break atmosphere.
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