Va. Beach to get new cop squad
City spends more than $1M on resort-area office to address issues such as homelessness
VIRGINIA BEACH — A new resort-area police squad will be the go-to source for residents and business owners who have safety concerns at the Oceanfront this summer, according to Virginia Beach police.
Chief Paul Neudigate will add a sergeant and two officers to the precinct that covers the resort area, police Capt. Shannon Wichtendahl told members of the city’s Resort Advisory Commission on Thursday.
The new positions will be “boots on the ground” to maintain safety and to help the public stay informed about special events, the captain said. The ramp-up comes after a tumultuous start to the 2020 tourist season and a push from resort area leaders for a more effective police presence on Atlantic Avenue.
Last May, a Black Lives Matter 757 protest ended with storefronts vandalized and police
deploying tear gas.
In the three weeks after the May 31 protest, shootings spiked in the resort area. By early July, then-interim police chief Tony Zuccaro called off some foot patrols because he said officers were being harassed by people on the street.
Most of the violence eventually subsided, but the local hospitality industry, which was already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, struggled to recover through the end of the summer.
They joined other business owners and community members to propose new initiatives in the resort area for the 2021 season.
The City Council heard them and is investing more than $1 million in tourism tax money on a new resort management office to address maintenance, zoning and homelessness issues.
Also among the initiatives business owners asked for: increasing the police presence on Atlantic Avenue and officers’ role in ensuring “positive behaviors, protecting public and private properties, and creating a safe and welcoming visitor environment,” according city records.
George Kotarides, president of the Atlantic Avenue Association, a community group, said the tide is finally turning at the Oceanfront as more people are working together “for the common good.”
“I’m really excited about the unity I’m seeing in the resort area,” he said. “Everyone should want to come down to the beach and enjoy it.”