Problems this past weekend at Silver Beach are leading Berrien County Sheriff Paul Bailey to make some changes to how beach patrols are handled there this summer. On Sunday night, there were two assaults at the beach around 9:45 p.m. That was 15 minutes after Bailey’s deputies ended their shift. Bailey now tells WSJM News they’re making adjustments.
“We’ve changed our hours,” Bailey said. “We’re going to stay a little bit later now. We didn’t think we needed to, but we’re just going to keep the deputies down there until the park closes to make sure everybody leaves so we address the problem.”
Bailey tells us it was quiet and there were only about 20 to 30 people left at the beach Sunday night when his deputies took off. He thinks more people then came in from the pier or downtown. He adds he’s working with St. Joseph Public Safety on beach enforcement and is taking the situation very seriously.
