Ocean City Seeking Independent Contractor To Oversee Beach Patrol

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Ocean City is looking to hire an independent contractor to oversee the day-to-day operations of the city’s beach patrol while county prosecutors conduct an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and assault by patrol members.

The Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the anonymous allegations against unnamed members of Ocean City’s Beach Patrol last week.

The allegations were published on a new Instagram account beginning Wednesday, April 14. As of Thursday morning, the account @ocbp_predators, had more than 8,000 followers, and 166 posts.

“Going forward, the city will take a number of steps to ensure that all our city team members work in a safe environment,” Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian said in a statement.

“Effective immediately, I have appointed Aide to the Mayor Michael Allegretto to oversee operations of the Ocean City Beach Patrol. His charge will be to retain an experienced labor attorney with a strong background in employment investigations to ensure the city’s policies and procedures are sufficient, correctly implemented and properly communicated; and to engage an independent contractor to oversee the day-to-day operations of the patrol while the investigation is conducted," Gillian added.

Many of the account's posts contain multiple references to alleged incidents of sexual harassment and assault that people experienced during their time in or around members of the Beach Patrol. The incidents allegedly took place both inside and outside the workplace.

According to the account's description, it is accepting private messages from users about their experiences.

City Council will meet Thursday evening for the first time since the allegations became public. The council will meet at the Music Pier at 7 p.m. The meeting can also be viewed virtually through Zoom.

“Given the nature of some of the statements, I understand that it may be difficult for victims or witnesses to come forward, but I urge anyone with information to contact the Prosecutor’s Office at 609-465-1135, report it anonymously through the Cape May County Sheriff’s Tip Line at cmcsheriff.net (click on “anonymous tip”), or call Cape May County Crime Stoppers at 609-889-3597,” Gillian said.

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