Ocean City NJ June 25 2012 Every morning, 21-year-old Special Officer Giovanni DeMarco suits up and patrols the boardwalk in Ocean City.For $10 an hour, no health benefits and no vacation days, he puts his life on the line to keep countless beach-goers safe.
But he is just one face in a population of thousands who seek seasonal employment at the Jersey Shore each year.
Some work as reinforcement for local police departments, others as amusement park ride operators, or ice cream scoopers, but they all are part of the magic that is the Jersey Shore.
“We hire a mix of approximately 40 Class 1 and Class 2 officers every summer,” said Ocean City Police Lt. Bruce Twiggs.
The hiring of special officers to supplement shore towns has been going on for more than 30 years. Just about every police department along the Atlantic coast does it.
“Our population fluctuates between about 12,000 in the winter time to a peak of 110,000 in the summer,” said Twiggs. “With that kind of influx we need supplemental officers, but we don’t need them year-round.”
The Ocean City police department has 55 full-time officers.
“So for the summer we don’t exactly double our force, but it is pretty close,” said Twiggs.
To help with the crowds, police departments can hire two classes of seasonal help.
Class 1 special law enforcement officers have limited enforcement powers and do not carry firearms, but can still enforce laws for motor vehicle violations, city ordinances, petty disorderly persons offenses and disorderly persons.
These recruits go through 80 hours of training, traffic enforcement, traffic control, unarmed defense, report writing and other basic law enforcement courses.
Class 2 officers are just shy of full-time police officers. They can carry a firearm, but cannot make arrests outside of a town’s jurisdiction or take their firearms home.
These officers receive 471 hours of training, classes run in the winter and summer, said Twiggs.
DeMarco worked his way up and is now serving as a Class 2 officer in Ocean City.
“Last year I served on the patrol division as a Class 1. I issued parking tickets more than anything, but it was a good learning experience,” said DeMarco. “I was able to learn from the officers around me and pick up their good habits.”
This year, DeMarco is on the boardwalk unit and he has embraced the extra responsibility of a Class 2 officer. He also likes the interaction with the public.
“I want the public to look at me and see that I enjoy my job,” said DeMarco. “I don’t want people to fear approaching me, because as law enforcement officers we are here to help the community.”
This is John Coffey’s first year as a Class 1 officer in Ocean City.
The 18–year-old Pennsauken resident is a student at Rowan University.
Twiggs said 99 percent of the special officers they hire are college students. Of that amount, 75 percent are criminal justice majors. Some students can even use the summer jobs to earn college credit.
“I’m only a month in, but for the most part it has been a positive experience,” said Coffey. “It’s a good test to see if I want to pursue a career in law enforcement.”
So far, Coffey said he handles a lot of “quality of life” calls.
“Not too much action yet on the boardwalk,” he said.
Twiggs said boardwalk officers work on a two-shift rotation, either 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or a 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
DeMarco said there are major differences between the two shifts.
“During the daytime you see more families so you get calls for medical emergencies like heat stroke or seizures,” said DeMarco. “At night there is more action, kids out drinking or causing trouble.”
DeMarco, who hopes to land a job with his hometown department, said his goal is to protect the public and educate them on why certain rules on the boardwalk need to be followed.
North Wildwood Police Lt. Kevin Tolan said working as a special officer can serve as a stepping stone for a future law-enforcement career.
North Wildwood, where the population typically swells from 5,000 year-round to 50,000 in the summer, has hired 43 officers this summer to supplement their 20-plus full-time police force.
“This year 10 kids returned out of 41 because most of the officers from last year got picked up for a full-time job in their hometowns,” said Tolan. “We’ve had kids who started here that are now in all levels of law enforcement across the state.”
But the Jersey Shore is not all about law and order.
This summer Caroline Drury, 20, of Philadelphia, is working at Johnson’s Popcorn.
She said her family owns a house in Ocean City and as she got older she started picking up jobs to make some extra money.
“I like it a lot but it kind of stinks being able to look out at the beach knowing you’re stuck here,” said Drury. “It gets tough and frustrating when I’m the only girl working, you have to think the line will always end at some point.”
Personnel Director at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, Brian O’Connell, said they hire about 200 summer employees including international college students from Lithuania and Turkey.
Morey’s Pier in Wildwood hires approximately 1,500 seasonal workers and keeps 115 full-time employees, said spokesman Tim Samson. Most seasonal ride operators make the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Tim Diggins, 19, of Egg Harbor Township, has been working at Ocean City’s Wonderland Pier for three years.
“It’s a fun, reliable job,” Diggins said. “You get to watch kids have fun on rides and it’s pretty easy.”
Diggins said the ability to work just a few months in the summer is what drew him to seasonal work at the shore.
“I go to college in North Carolina so three or four months of work is the perfect job for me,” said Diggins. “Most days here I work open to close.”
As for training on certain rides, Diggins said each day they are assigned to a ride.
“They make a schedule each day and if someone has not been trained on a ride they take you out and spend plenty of time making sure you know how to operate the ride,” said Diggins. “Safety is first.”
The Jersey Shore is also known to host many international workers through the summer. It was 20-year-old Kazakhstan native Bagdat Akhmenov’s first trip to the United States.
Akhmenov is working at George’s Candies this summer.
“I wanted to see the world and make new friends,” said Akhmenov, whose native country in central Asia borders Russia. “I’ve never been to the USA. It maybe was a little bit like my dream to come here.”
According to the U.S. Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Program, in 2011 nearly 7,000 workers came into New Jersey for summer jobs on a temporary work visa.
The Federal Summer Work Travel program is said to provide foreign students with an opportunity to live and work in the United States during their summer vacation from college to experience and to be exposed to the people and way of life in the United States.
Samson said Morey’s Piers owns four boarding homes that house both international and U.S. employees.
“We house about 10 percent of our summer work force,” Samson said. “We work with area housing owners and provide options to our seasonal associates.”
source:cpsj.com
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