While the COVID-19 pandemic has only now begun to recede and states across the nation are beginning to open, the City of Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) has continually reported a constant influx of visitors each and every week over the past year.  The steady stream of visitors even during a pandemic has only been fueled by several of the City’s dance hall and entertainment establishments' promotion of events at their venues and often to capacity. 

The Police Department's concerns over citywide promoted events both inside and outside of dance halls stem from the numerous calls for service at the venues to which officers must respond throughout the calendar year. Inside the establishments, MBPD alongside the Fire and Code Compliance Departments often discover multiple violations to include overcrowding and failure to comply with business rules and regulations, among others. 

MBPD monitors social media and other event promoted websites to gauge the level of activity on any given weekend. In many instances, event advertisement is published within 12 hours of the event as to avoid any scrutiny and vetting of performers. On many occasions, scheduled performers have caused great concern to the City due to known violent histories, gang affiliations and ongoing disputes of celebrity performers and their entourages that generally do not begin in our City, but are brought to and carried out on our streets.

The Police Department feels that a tighter and streamlined regulatory process for these events, promoters and venues is needed and long overdue.  The Department strongly believes that all promoters from outside of Miami Beach should register any event with the Tourism and Culture Department no later than 96 hours before a scheduled promotion at a dance hall/entertainment establishment. This registration process would in turn allow the City to better prepare its response from information received on the scheduled entertainment and performers, the number of tickets sold, and the number of promoters working events on any given weekend. In addition, the use of Off-Duty Officers can then also be better evaluated and coordinated through an assigned individual to determine the appropriate amount of police officers that shall be hired in an “off duty” capacity to ensure the safety of patrons and residents.

The implementation of these measures will provide the City’s Police, Fire, Code Compliance, Parking Enforcement and Tourism & Culture Departments will tools through which to better gauge the impact of a promoted event. The increase in communication and information exchange with dance hall venues and promoters will prove instrumental to the City’s ability to control issues related to overcrowding, queuing on sidewalks, and crime, as well as better coordinate efforts with valet parking entities and internally designing appropriate traffic details to protect our residents and visitors.