‘It's like senior skip day': RPD, MCSO work together to introduce new safety measures at Charlotte Beach Park
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Monroe County leaders and law enforcement introduced an increased presence starting on Wednesday evening at Ontario Beach Park.
Officers said they responded to Ontario Beach Park last Wednesday for disturbances breaking out in large crowds. That led to 19-year-old Deandre Leonard getting arrested for allegedly running around with a handgun.
'We can't allow that to happen again,' Captain Greg Bello said.
On Tuesday, Rochester Police Captain Greg Bello announced that on Wednesday nights, which is the night of the weekly Concerts by the Shore, will begin having a huge increase of law enforcement personnel: including RPD's Special Events Detail and the Patrol Unit from the Department's Lake section, deputies from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, and troopers from New York State Police. Teams will also be assigned from Monroe County Probation, Monroe County Security, and City of Rochester security.
'It's a great summer event that over 1,000 people go to,' Captain Bello said. 'We want to make sure that that's a safe event to go to.'
Weather-dependent, RPD said it will implement its Tactical Unit and Traffic Enforcement Unit to 'conduct targeted, disorderly traffic safety, and all sorts of enforcement in the parking lots of the beach area.'
Captain Bello said this is to target any groups 'before they're able to get into a point of creating mischief.' On Saturday evening, multiple roads were closed down in the Charlotte neighborhood near the beach. Fights spilled toward Lake Avenue in front of Tropix.
Business owners have told News 8 that this has become a regular thing in the area. Rochester police, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, and New York State Police are meeting to plan for increased patrols in the area.
First responders will also be working with the Rochester Transit Service to implement a special events detail.
'Our Staff Duty officer now has the authority to turn busses around,' Bello said. 'So if we have large groups of teens going to the beach in order to try to create problems at the beach, we're going to turn that bus around.'
The Monroe Crime Analysis Center will also be used to monitor social media and different groups to target any events, fights, or chaos being planned at the beach.
'We're going to go after those that are that are trying to create chaos,' Bello said. At the end of the day, it's a family park.'
Monroe County announced County Executive Adam Bello has worked with the President of the Monroe County Legislature to introduce a Capital Improvement Project. This would put gates at the parking lot of the beaches to monitor who is going in and out more effectively.
'This isn't something new. This has been going on for decades, and I think it's one of the really cornerstones of public safety in the county of Monroe,' a Monroe County Director said.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office Deputy Brendan Hurley said these fights coincide with Senior Skip Day.
'These are juveniles,' Deputy Hurley said. 'These are teens going out and causing havoc. But like you saw last week, we arrested somebody with a gun, so that has the potential to get a lot worse. So that's why we're taking it serious, and we're going to try to nip it in the bud and stop it before anything gets too far in the name of safety.'
When asked why this wasn't done a long time ago, Captain Bello said it has to do with resources.
'We don't have infinite resources,' he said. 'We have to prioritize as we go forward with what we're going after with our non fatal shooting team. We have to focus. And so we've had details up at the beach. There was a detail up at the beach last week that thankfully kept that from escalating any further. But what we've looked at is, okay, where's our most appropriate deployment of resources? And what we found is that we need to increase those resources at the beach, and that's what we're doing in response to that.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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