Laser pointers source of contention in Ocean City, Maryland

Imagine you’re sitting in your living room on a quiet weeknight when a 13-million-candlepower searchlight starts hovering over your home. You wonder, what in the world are the police looking for? In a few minutes, Maryland State Police are at your doorstep.

They’re looking for your child, because he decided to zap a state police helicopter with a laser pointer, one purchased during the family’s last trip to Ocean City.

Maryland State Police Aviation Unit spokesman Lt. Walter Kerr said this scenario has happened — twice.

“We did get a spike on lasering at the same time it became popular on the Boardwalk,” he said. “Some folks had purchased their lasers in Ocean City on the Boardwalk and had brought them home. These were juveniles, kids between the ages of 12-17 that we actually caught through our processes. One parent said, ‘We got that down in Ocean City last week.’”

Ocean City’s recent ban on the sale and possession of what should be a harmless office supply tool stems from a police decision to eliminate the threat to police helicopters and to the eyes of public safety and resort employees, officials said.

The medevac helicopter that serves the Lower Shore, has gotten its share of lasering, too, though not as much as more populated areas where their helicopters are busier, Kerr said.

Still, in 2010 state police threatened to curtail medevac service to Ocean City unless something was done about the out-of-control laser pointer abuse. Town leaders passed a law in response, banning laser pointer sales to minors. The green-laser devices had been flying off the shelves at Boardwalk shops.

There have been two cases where juvenile males who were caught lasering state police helicopters, and each were apprehended and prosecuted, Kerr said. Fines were assessed, and the boys both ended up sentenced to public service. There were also several occasions where troopers were not able to find out who’d shone the laser into the cockpit of their medevac helicopter.

State police have documented less than 10 lasering incidents since 2009, Kerr said. Most occurrences are during landing, when Kerr says crews are most vulnerable. The laser beam itself fragments as it extended farther from its source, reflecting and bouncing around the cockpit. At night, it can come as a blinding momentary flash.

“They think it’s a video game. They think it’s fun, without any concept of what they’re doing on the other end,” he said. “They’re not being cut a break. This is serious stuff. In those 8-10 seconds, a catastrophe can occur. There’s no question about it.”

‘We don’t want anybody getting hurt’

Ocean City Police Chief Ross Buzzuro said he finally decided to ask town leaders for a ban this year because police had seen 975 calls for service for laser pointer abuse in a three-year period. He also cited aircraft concerns, and the effects of lasers directed into another person’s eyes, as reasons for the ban.

“That is a lot of time and energy spent trying to figure out and investigate laser pointers,” he said. “Officers can divert their attention and very to a more focused and appropriate matter. We have a small force that deals with a large population in the summer months. Whatever I can do to make sure we provide the best service for the community, I’m going to do that.”

Since the Town Council passed the ban May 19, there have been no incidents or arrests for laser pointer abuse, said police department spokeswoman Lindsay O’Neal.

There are still opportunities for legitimate, noncriminal laser pointer use, according to Guy Ayres, Ocean City’s attorney, who wrote the law banning laser abuse.

“We didn’t want to ban their legitimate use,” he said. “For example, at the convention center, when groups make presentations, someone may want to use a laser pointer. And that’s OK. We certainly didn’t want to fashion an ordinance that made that illegal.”

Boardwalk tram operators had been targeted by rogue laser pointer users as well, said Steven Bartlett, operations manager for Ocean City’s Public Works Transportation department.

He said his office tracks laser abuse incidents in a daily log book. Last summer, there were three instances of tram drivers being lasered, without serious injury. So far this year, there were none.

“In years past, yes, it has been a problem,” Bartlett said. “It had been addressed by the police department, when we could figure out where it was coming from.”

It’s also a problem for municipal bus drivers on Coastal Highway, he added, when laser pointers come shining down from the high rises on Condo Row.

“It’s a little different through a windshield than through the side windows of a tram. It does happen and it’s mainly on weekends when there’s larger numbers of people here. This is just a nuisance, and we don’t want anybody getting hurt, which is why we report it,” Bartlett said.

A profitable pest
For the people selling the laser pointers, business had been very, very good. Police did a back-of-the-envelope tally in 2010, and found that 23 resort retailers had sold more than 30,000 laser pointers. When demand was hottest, customers happily paid $30 to $50 apiece. Stores posted hand-written signs telling passers-by WE HAVE LASERS.

“I understand the point for the city,” said Maria Ruiz, a manager at the retail shop Paradise Island at Second Street and the Boardwalk. “The law is because the kids, with the eyes, the airplanes – I understand. But at some point, it affects a lot of the businesses. We make really good money in the green lasers.”

She said her shop had to send back lasers already ordered by catalog, and they’ve since warehoused lasers already on the shelf that can’t be lawfully sold anymore. That includes not just the traditional laser pointers, but other gimmicky laser toys, like keychain-sized lasers used, she noted, “for chasing pets.”

Resort merchants can expect to take a major revenue hit from a laser pointer ban, said Jeff Morris, who identified himself as a laser pointer wholesaler during the May 19 Town Council discussion on laser pointers. Morris, of Frankford, said he’d been selling green laser pointers in bulk since July 2013.

“I'd like you to reconsider,” he told the council. “It would hurt the merchants, really and truly. Say a merchant sells 1,500 in a season, that’s $30,000. That’s a lot of cash to them. Wholesale, what they pay for it, they make a lot of money — three times their money. It’s an economic thing.” Morris was not able to be reached for further comment.

At the meeting, Ocean City Councilman Doug Cymek wasn’t buying it. He said laser pointer abuse was a public safety issue, and the ban was “long overdue.”

“They've had their chance,” he replied to Morris. “There are people who have been injured because of them. You know what these can do. I have no further patience for these. It has to come to an end.”

The issue is not new to the resort. In July 1998, in an emergency measure, the Ocean City Council banned any harassing or annoying shining of laser pointers on a person. Less than a year later, state lawmakers passed an identical ban, one buoyed by testimony from Ocean City police.

Recorded abuse of laser pointers has increased with their availability in the last several years, according to a 2001 Federal Aviation Administration report.

“The misuse of laser pointers involving exposure greater than 10 feet is not likely to cause permanent eye injury,” the report said. “However, at very close range, the light energy that laser pointers can deliver into the eye may be more damaging than staring directly at the sun.”

Rich Drake, 33, of Ocean City, was a victim of a laser pointer in the summer of 2009. He took a direct hit to the eye with a red laser pointer while walking on the Boardwalk at night. At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Drake admits he made for an easy target.

Afterwards, he noticed his vision took on a pinkish tone, and altered the colors he was seeing. The effects lasted more than a year. Drake already wears glasses and has a condition that makes his eyes extra-sensitive to light. The experience left him shaken.

“That's why I was ecstatic to see Chief Ross Buzzuro being proactive and finally drafting the legislation that could ban these devices for good,” he said. “I'm glad the mayor and council voted quickly to put this ordinance into effect. It appears to be working, as I have not seen any laser pointers on the Boardwalk this summer. It's nice to see this dangerous nuisance out of our town.”

A bother at other beaches
 
Ocean City’s recent ban on laser pointers mirrors moves by other East Coast resort towns to hinder laser pointer abuse, according to Patrick Murphy, who runs the website Laser Pointer Safety from his home in Orlando, Fla.

He keeps track of laser pointer abuse laws as they are written, and his website notes that the seaside resorts of Ocean City, N.J., and North Myrtle Beach, S.C., also have made moves to restrict the sale and possession of laser pointers. Overall, 18 states have state and local restrictions on the books relating to laser pointers, the website states.

“I think these beach towns have a situation that may be somewhat unique due to the widespread sale of these things at retail,” he said. “It’s not really seen through much of America. And it’s a party town atmosphere too. They’re selling it to people who want to have a good time. They’re readily available as a kind of impulse purchase.”

Murphy, 57, is the executive director of the International Laser Display Association. It’s a trade association of about 125 members for the industry that puts on laser light shows.

He said in the past, laser light shows produced by his association members would present a problem to aircraft. As a result, the trade group helped clear the way to regulations and clearing performances through the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Then hand-held laser pointers came of age. With each new generation of tech, they became brighter, more powerful — and cheaper. Murphy says green ones are up to 40 times brighter than earlier red-hued models.

He said the technological advances in laser light have come so far that we’re on the verge of a light revolution “like the microprocessor.”

“Now the average person can do the kinds of things we did in the 1990s, and they should not be doing that to airplanes,” he said. “It’s unfortunate there are people out there who don’t understand the hazards or are deliberately misusing them.”

Murphy said Ocean City’s laser pointer ban is bound to help the rampant abuse by simply removing the problem from the marketplace. Still, he said, “There’s going to be plenty of people who already have something in their drawer, they bring it to the beach on vacation.”

On a weekday in late June, Michelina Kovarnik, of Harrisburg, Pa., came to visit Ocean City with her family. She had not heard of the town’s recent ban, but did recall what the resort looked like during the height of laser pointer popularity.

“I know when I was younger, when they first came out, they were all over,” said Kovarnick, 28. “They were on the rides, people were on the beach with them. It’s like anything else. You have to be responsible with it, not flashing it in people’s eyes. I didn’t let my (6-year-old) kid play with it here. It’s too much of a hassle, people driving trams and stuff.”

“It is dangerous, so it’s probably a good call,” said said her father, Mark Jones, 50, also of Harrisburg. “I think what happened is, a few bad eggs made it bad for everybody. A lot of those things are used for meetings and presentations, or messing with the cat or dog, or something like that. Other than that, I don’t see any other reason to have one.”

Examples of laser pointer abuse  as recorded by Ocean City Police:

Aug. 23, 2013: Officers were on patrol at 123rd Street at 11:40 p.m. Two boys were on the sidewalk shining green lasers into cars driving north on Coastal Highway. The boys shined the light into the police car. Officers stopped the youths and confiscated the laser pointers.

July 22, 2012: Plain-clothes officers saw three kids on the Boardwalk sea wall at 9:50 p.m. They were shining green laser pointers onto buildings and people, causing passers-by “to become confused and annoyed.” Police learned the three juveniles were siblings. Police issued them criminal citations. The mother told police she understood that her children’s actions were wrong, and that the business where the lasers were purchased did not inform them of the local ordinance. The police seized the laser pointers.

July 27, 2010: Officers on Boardwalk foot patrol at 21st Street at 8:40 a.m. Someone from a hotel balcony was zapping pedestrians, including the officers. Police tracked the laser beam to a 13-year-old boy, whose father had “given permission” to use it, police said.

July 29, 2010: Police officer on horseback was riding on the beach when someone from the Belmont Towers condos shined a laser pointer in front of his horse, and then on the horse's face. It spooked the horse and bucked the rider, who sustained minor injuries. The person with the laser was never found.

July 29, 2010: Officers responded at 2:07 a.m. to reported laser pointer harassment at the Carousel hotel. The victim said a green laser beam had been pointed directly in her eye, and she complained to paramedics of blurred vision and a headache. Police found a 20-year-old man had zapped her three times in the eye. The perpetrator was issued a citation.

July 12, 2010: It was 8 a.m. when paramedics responded to the Boardwalk to treat a person who was reportedly having a seizure. While treating the individual, someone shined a laser into paramedics’ eyes.

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