Justin Martinich

Long Beach must rethink sending lifeguards home at 6 p.m.

Posted

Come visit our beaches, walk the boardwalk and enjoy our restaurants — but don’t expect to be able to swim safely after 6 p.m. That’s the message the City of Long Beach is sending after yet another tragic and preventable drowning on Aug. 1.

By not providing beach-goers with supervised access to the ocean in the late hours of the day, the city has marginalized public safety.

Officials do make an effort to patrol the beaches and remove bathers from the water after lifeguards go off duty, but 100 percent compliance along our long stretch of beach is impossible. On hot summer evenings, it’s a game of Whac-A-Mole for the after-hours patrol — and who can blame folks for wanting to swim at 6:30 or 7 on such an evening?

Long Beach is a unique place, where the transportation and recreational infrastructure — specifically the trains, buses, streets and boardwalk — literally unload steps from the ocean. It is one of the few places on Long Island where you can swim, recreate and dine with ease. The city government has led a remarkable rebuilding effort since Hurricane Sandy, and is enthusiastic about being back open for business.

Along with this, however, comes the responsibility of protecting residents and visitors, no matter how ocean-savvy they may or may not be. In response to inquiries about extending bathing hours, the public deserves a better response than, “Lifeguards can’t be there all night.” No one would ever suggest that. What residents and visitors should expect, however, is the opportunity to swim safely during summer daylight hours.

Lifesaving services cannot assume that recreational swimmers have the extensive knowledge of ever-changing ocean conditions that comes only with years of experience on the water. Even the fastest pool swimmers that arrive in each new Jones Beach rookie lifeguard class often need to be taught about rip currents — how to spot them, and how to rescue patrons who are caught in them. To think that casual beach-goers have all the skills they need to keep themselves safe is unfair and unrealistic.

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