St. Augustine Beach police shut down an unsanctioned teen takeover scheduled for Thursday, June 5, at a local pier after the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office flagged the event online before it could draw a crowd. The flyer — which told attendees to “Pull up. Turn Up. Take over” — circulated on social media with a “Canceled” banner plastered across it after the department went public with the warning.
Police Chief Daniel Carswell credited the sheriff’s office’s Real-Time Intelligence Center, known as ARTIC, with surfacing the plan in time to act. “They search the internet, they’re searching constantly for threats to our community and threats to the public,” Carswell told Fox News Digital. “They came across this and sent it to us. Which was fortunate for us, because we had time to act.” The department also deployed extra officers to the pier — a strain on a force Carswell described as just 25 sworn officers. No charges were filed.
The resource drain isn’t abstract. “It could be tens, it could be hundreds — we don’t know,” Carswell said of potential turnout. “And that’s overwhelming to our resources.” Pulling officers on their days off or borrowing from neighboring agencies to staff an unplanned event, he said, leaves the rest of the city short.
The St. Augustine Beach response came as similar events hit other parts of Florida. On Sunday, May 31, hundreds of teens descended on Clearwater Beach, triggering a large police response and multiple detentions. A 17-year-old suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds near Coronado Drive and Devon Drive during the chaos; a 16-year-old was later arrested in connection with the shooting. Clearwater Council member Ryan Cotton called the scene “reprehensible.”
Meanwhile, Palm Beach County authorities were monitoring a separate flyer calling on teens to converge on Wellington Green Mall on Friday, June 6, according to WPBF. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office’s Statewide Prosecutors are developing a plan to investigate and prosecute organizers. “Whoever is organizing these ‘teen takeovers,’ congrats: you have my attention,” Uthmeier wrote on social media. Whether any charges will follow from the Wellington Green situation hasn’t been announced.
Originally reported by Fox News Digital. Read the original report.
