PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Officials in Panama City Beach say Spring Break 2013 was a relatively safe one.
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen and Panama City Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman held a press conference on Tuesday to talk about spring break.
There were three spring break fatalities in 2013. A 20-year-old student from Michigan died of a suspected alcohol overdose and a car crash killed two 21-year-old students from Ohio.
Authorities say communication, preparation and innovation helped make spring break successful. For example, a mobile booking unit was set up at the beach, saving hundreds of hours that would be normally spent transporting people from the beach to the jail in Panama City.
The News Herald of Panama City reports 695 people were taken to jail from the mobile unit.