Secure the Shore: New Jersey Homeland Security to Ramp Up Efforts this Summer

New Jersey is beefing up security across the state, including a focus on the seaside area.

• By Sydny Shepard
• May 30, 2018

Law enforcement in New Jersey are employing the help of specialized investigators at the Jersey Shore this summer as thousands of tourists flood the state's seaside resort towns, a yearly migration that officials say poses a security risk.

Investigators from the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOSHP) will focus on coastal towns that attract mass gatherings. The importance of bringing in the investigators is highlighted by the events in the United States since last summer, including the Las Vegas shooting at a country music festival that killed 58 people and wounded hundreds more. Just a few weeks later, a man rented a truck in New York City and plowed it into people on a Hudson River bike path killing eight people.

A press release from NJOSHP said it will be working with other police agencies to get ready for any threat.

“In coordination with local, county, state, and federal law enforcement, NJOHSP has deployed a security strategy to prepare shore communities of the emerging threat to public venues with limited security and free movement,” the press release said.

The effort is part of a an overall "Secure the Shore" initiative, a targeted push to raise awareness about security threats and conduct investigations at the Jersey Shore.

Officials will begin their focus on Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties. They will make visits to boardwalks and businesses and also train lifeguards and beach personnel on how to identify suspicious activity and report it to authorities.

NJOSHP rolled out the “Secure the Shore” initiative just days before Memorial Day, the official start of the summer shore season, a major part of the state’s substantial tourism industry. According to a study by Oxford Economics, more than 100 million people visited the Garden State in 2017.