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Posted by: kwflatbed

Joseph Gidjunis
USA TODAY

OCEAN CITY, Md. — In some ways, Rob Jacaruso is no different from a summer intern, except that he wears a badge and carries a .38-caliber revolver.
With one semester to go at Virginia Military Institute, Jacaruso is happy to have a position in his chosen field, and the $12.93 per hour he's earning helps pay the bills.
Jacaruso, who received three weeks of training for the job, is one of 110 seasonal police officers hired each year in this beach town (pop. 7,049) to help the full-time force of 107 keep the peace as the summer season swells the population to more than 250,000.
If you get pulled over, nabbed for jaywalking or asked about an open drink container this summer at a beach resort, the person with the badge -- and perhaps a gun or pepper spray -- might be a summertime officer. Such seasonal police help is common at vacation resort areas. Municipalities differ greatly on how much authority the officers are given.
At various getaways:
*Rehoboth Beach, Del. — Seasonal officers are armed with a baton and pepper spray and used for misdemeanor offenses. The police department doesn't give them firearms.
The department is "accountable for where (a bullet) would go," Police Chief Keith Banks says.
*Laguna Beach, Calif. — The police department adds 20 seasonal officers who wear special uniforms, carry pepper spray and help monitor beach behavior, according to Sgt. Jason Kravetz. He doesn't see the benefit of expanding their power to carry guns. "It's nothing we'd look at because they're only here three months," he says.
*Panama City Beach, Fla. — The police force leans heavily on part-time officers for weekends and special events, including college spring break and the Fourth of July weekend, says David Humphreys, deputy chief of police. The panhandle beach city typically has about 40 such officers, and they wear regular uniforms, travel in police cars and carry weapons, which they must purchase themselves.
"They're crucial to our operation," says Humphreys, whose city may swell from the regular population of about 11,500 people to 125,000 or more during popular holiday weekends. "They may go to a dog-barking call, they may go to a murder. We don't get too many murders, though -- knock on wood."
*Bourne, Mass. — There are four seasonal hires this year. The officers wear the same uniforms as the regulars, with the exception of the word "Special" on their badges. Lt. Richard Tavares says the training includes instruction for using the 9mm weapons they carry.
The lack of experience can cause headaches, Rehoboth Beach Chief Banks says.
During routine searches for open containers on the beach last year, one temporary officer looked into unattended bags on beach blankets without getting owners' permission. The department also received complaints about officers on bicycles not obeying stop signs and other traffic control rules they were paid to enforce. Banks says he scheduled a retraining session for the entire summer crew.
"When we make mistakes, we try to make them into a learning experience," Banks says.
Some tourists complain that the inexperience of seasonal officers leads them to power-trip on their newfound responsibilities.
"If you pay for an undertrained workforce, you get what you pay for. They're rent-a-cops. Everyone thinks so," says Andy Kitzrow, 24, a self-described Ocean City weekender.
Jacaruso brushes away this criticism.
"Your nerves test you the first few days," Jacaruso says. "It's never easy to get someone in trouble. We don't enjoy arresting people."
Martin Kanipe, president of Professional Governmental Underwriters, says resort towns typically pay for additional liability insurance coverage for seasonal officers. He says the price for three seasonal officers who each work a third of a day would equal that of one full-time officer. Though rates vary across the country, he says, liability insurance runs about $1,400 per year per full-time officer.
Increased use of officers
Abraham Pizam, dean and chair of Tourism Management at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management, says he has seen an increase in resort cities' use of temporary police in the past five to 10 years.
Cities "thought, these (tourists) are not taxpayers, so why bother with protecting them because they don't have a vote and they can't affect our livelihood," Pizam says. "Now, it's a different story."
Tony Narr, a management specialist with the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum, conducted a review of Ocean City's program in 2005. Among his conclusions was that the Ocean City Police Department does a thorough enough interview and background check to reduce the risk in hiring seasonal officers.
"Whenever you put someone out in the public with a badge and a gun ... that's a liability whether it's a full-time police officer or a summer seasonal," Narr says. "They need to make sure to hire the right people and give them the training to the best degree that they can."

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