Cops halt planned ‘teen takeover’ as officials brace for a summer surge in chaos and arrests: police chief

A police department is taking a victory lap after thwarting an unsanctioned “teen takeover,” marking the latest move from law enforcement working to combat the viral events sweeping the nation. 

Authorities with the St. Augustine Beach shut down an unsanctioned event scheduled for Thursday at a local pier after they used electronic monitoring to identify the plan before it dissolved into chaos. 

“Were a beach town, so weve always had spring break crowds that show up – but nothing thats been organized like this with the sole intent of just causing disruption,” St. Augustine Beach Police Chief Daniel Carswell told Fox News Digital. 

The gathering was initially scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, according to the event flyer shared by the department.

“Pull up. Turn Up. Take over,” the flyer reads, with a large “Canceled” banner plastered across the post on social media. 

According to Carswell, the department is working alongside neighboring law enforcement agencies to leverage an electronic monitoring system designed to flag planned events before they take place. 

“We work together great, especially with the [St. Johns County] Sheriffs Office,” Carswell said. “They have whats called a – or ARTIC – and thats their job.”

In the days leading up to Thursdays planned takeover, Carswell said ARTIC flagged the event to authorities, providing enough time to shut it down. 

“They search the internet, theyre searching constantly for threats to our community and threats to the public,” Carswell said. “They came across this and sent it to us. Which was fortunate for us, because we had time to act.” 

In the days leading up to the unsanctioned event, the St. Augustine Beach Police Department used social media to spread the word that the viral takeover had been canceled.

“All we can do is what we did, which was putting it out there that this is not a sanctioned event. If you come with the intention of causing chaos or causing disruption, there’s going to be zero tolerance.” 

The department also deployed additional officers to the pier in the event attendees still showed up – a move that could mean local law enforcement agencies are left understaffed as they devote manpower to the unsanctioned takeovers. 

“Were a small police department, were 25 ,” Carswell told Fox News Digital. “So it is a complete drain on our resources, especially when its unplanned – thats the danger of it.”

Carswell added that the unpredictability of each unplanned event creates a dangerous situation for responding officers and the community. 

“We don’t know how many people could show up,” Carswell said. “It be hundreds – we don’t know. And that is overwhelming to our resources. To have to call in people on their days off or pull resources from other agencies to come down here to the beach in preparation for this [event].”

No charges were filed stemming from the planned takeover event scheduled Thursday, Carswell added.

The rise of communities throughout the country has gotten the attention of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who condemned the trend in a social media post. 

“Whoever is organizing these teen takeovers, congrats: you have my attention,” Uthmeier wrote. “This behavior is unacceptable, and Im having our Statewide Prosecutors develop a plan to investigate and prosecute those who are responsible for these events. Stay tuned. More to come.”

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