Seaside Heights Cops Detail 80+ Memorial Day Weekend Arrests, Chaos Driven by Social Media

Police arrest a suspect in Seaside Heights, Memorial Day Weekend 2025. (Photo: Assemblyman Paul Kanitra)

In the aftermath of a Memorial Day weekend that saw dozens of arrests, boardwalk closures, and an inundation by out-of-control visitors who flagrantly ignored laws, police officers helped borough council members understand just what was driving the chaos.

“This was my 30th Memorial Day weekend,” said Seaside Heights Police Lt. Luigi Violante. “It was busy, we had our hands full, but I think the injunctions worked to a certain extent.”

The injunctions to which Violante referred were court orders sought by the borough against social media promoters from out of town who openly advertised raucous parties in Seaside Heights in the run-up to the holiday weekend. The accounts are occasionally used to promote illegal paid-entry access to parties at private residences, but are often utilized by social media users simply to generate engagement – likes, comments and shares – and, thus, revenue. Police officers worked intelligence details before the holiday weekend, created undercover accounts on social media platforms, and used software applications to trace where the promotions were coming from. In a few cases, judges sitting in Toms River granted injunctions to prevent the social media accounts from continuing to promote the unpermitted gatherings.

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Sometimes, however, even police officers were surprised by what they found. One account in upstate New York which was the subject of an injunction was run by two young people, who told police there was never any party planned from the start.

“The guys drove up there and served them, and one kid said he wasn’t even going to be there,” said Violante. “He said, ‘I’m just doing it for likes.’”

Some of the other accounts promoting wild parties in Seaside Heights proved riskier, however, including one such account that had 1.5 million followers. Another account, run by a woman with a staggering 16 million followers, was considering promoting partying in Seaside Heights. In that case, however, the owner called police beforehand to ask for their assistance.

“She was told it was not in her best interest to come and do that,” Violante said.

Who Was Arrested?

Seaside Heights police tallied the number of arrests made over the holiday weekend and began finding patterns. While the majority of people arrested were adults, almost all of them were below the age of 24. In all, there were about 20 juveniles taken into custody and 63 adults.

Of the 63 adults arrested, 19 were 18-yearso-old, 12 were 19-years-old, 10 were 20-years-old, three were 21-years-old, and 11 were between the ages of 22 and 24. Only five arrestees were age 30 or older.

“In my mind, and I’m sure it’s the viewpoint of anyone who follows social media, that is your core TikTok, Instagram and Telegram audience,” said Borough Administrator Christopher Vaz, noting that the Russian-based Telegram app has grown in popularity in recent years.

The number of calls handled by local responders was staggering. There were 887 calls to 911, 747 total calls for service, 151 motor vehicle stops, 81 criminal disturbance calls, 10 motor vehicle accidents, 46 instances of illegal parking, and two sexual assaults. Some of the disturbance calls resulted in weapons charges.

While police were busy trying to keep rowdy crowds under control, Code Enforcement officers were responding to calls regarding illegal rentals and out-of-control party houses. Code Enforcement officers issued 14 summonses to homeowners who rented their homes without a property certificate of occupancy, 14 summonses for overcrowding, 98 summonses issued over violations of the short-term rental ordinance, and seven tickets issued for creating an unreasonable disturbance. There were about 225 summonses issued in total.

Societal Lawlessness?

After the weekend concluded, media attention largely shifted to Gov. Phil Murphy, who vetoed an anti-brawling bill that passed the state legislature with rare bipartisan agreement. Murphy said he vetoed the legislation because it included penalties for wearing masks, which he theorized could be used to incorrectly charge people with medical conditions. His reasoning elicited a strong backlash from Republicans, who have long pointed to police reforms backed by Murphy, a Democrat, and his two attorneys general during his terms that have placed stringent regulations on how police can interact with juveniles. In some cases, police officers can, themselves, be charged with a crime if they run afoul of the reform laws.

“The big thing about this weekend was the lack of respect for anybody, including their own parents,” said Seaside Heights Police Sgt. Erik Hershey. “If you heard the way they talked to their parents, you would be shocked. If I talked to my mother like that, she’d knock my head right off my body. This is a societal issue and a social issue.”

Hershey, a veteran officer who has supervised boardwalk patrols for years, said even he was shocked at how young people violated the law with impunity.

“The second they have to urinate, they’ll go anywhere,” he told council members. “A lot of the parents were like, ‘Eh, what can you do?’ I don’t think this is a Seaside problem, a county problem or even a state problem. It’s a societal issue.”

Seaside Heights police car. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Law enforcement can also become complicated when visitors from other jurisdictions – especially urban settings where low-level crimes are often de-prioritized – come to the Shore area where there is a different standard of acceptable behavior.

“Part of it is that they don’t enforce these disorderly offenses in some of the major cities,” he said. “They think it’s just a free-for-all, and it’s not.”

Mayor Anthony Vaz is a retired teacher, principal and schools superintendent who spent a career educating children and dealing with families on a daily basis. A lack of consequences has led to the current state of affairs, he opined.

“I was a teacher, and when I was a teacher if a student misbehaved there were consequences,” he said. “When I was a principal, we had suspensions, and when I was a superintendent, we had expulsions. We didn’t have any of this.”

The borough council, at Wednesday’s meeting, introduced a suite of five ordinances in an attempt to create tougher consequences for violators in the future (see separate story).

In Seaside Heights, where property values have soared in recent years as aging motels are being demolished in favor of modern homes, bad publicity on a holiday weekend is also bad for business and the borough’s reputation, which has otherwise seen significant gains in recent years. The borough has attracted investors from across the country, will soon be home to a major hotel as well as a luxury development by K. Hovnanian, and is in the midst of overseeing about a dozen redevelopment projects. Wild nightclubs are being replaced by high-end condominiums and townhomes, while efforts have been made to secure the northern portion of the borough as residential in nature, with ordinances prohibiting bars on that portion of the boardwalk.

Perhaps ironically, the discussion on the holiday weekend madness came after the borough’s auditor delivered a report noting that property values – and the borough’s tax base as a whole – has nearly tripled over the last several years.

“I teach my kids that we protect our family, we protect Seaside, and we protect our country,” said Hershey, explaining how he was saddened to see so much littering, public urination and vandalism after so much work has gone into the borough on the part of its workers.

Vaz said the council will continue to adopt tougher regulations and double down on its efforts to attract prideful homeowners and families to the resort.

“We have some naysayers, and I will say to them, ‘you’re not going to beat us,’ said Vaz. “We have done very well and we’ve come a long way in 10 years. We’re going to go further if we stick together.”