Folly Alcohol Ban

Major Crime Still a Problem for Folly Beach

Published

12 years ago

December 16, 2012

**UPDATE*** 1/10/13 – The crime continues. Folly Beach police are investigating 30 burglaries that happened between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

—Original story below

I have been yelling from my soapbox (albeit a small soapbox) for a while now about the whole Folly Beach alcohol ban issue.

Although I could understand the residents’ frustration over what happened on July 4th, I knew their screams for a complete ban of booze on the beach would not solve anything. The people of Folly Beach blamed outsiders and not just out-of-staters, they blamed anyone who didn’t live in their town.

Their reasons to ban alcohol were hyperbolic and off-base. I don’t disagree that some people were out-of-control with their drinking on the beach, but there were less severe ways to deal with the problem. Plus, the ban would only hurt the local businesses on Folly Beach. If the locals cared so much about their community, why would they put those businesses through that?

It’s no surprise that many local businesses were saying the booze ban had significantly hurt their sales. It wasn’t just because they weren’t selling as much alcohol, they weren’t selling as much of anything. Beach-goers opted for Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island instead and brought their disposable income with them.

It turns out those outsiders weren’t the biggest issue in Folly. Since the ban there has been TWO ( an incentive program and an officer’s high-profile suspension) embarrassing moments for the police department, which point to bigger issues in Folly Beach.

The crime that the locals were so worried about hasn’t disappeared either. In fact, a major crime just occurred the other night. An attempted murder took place, which would have been even worse if a band who was playing at Snapper Jack’s didn’t intervene.

Local businesses are hurting, the police force has been caught in two scandals, and crimes are still quite present, but, hey, at least people aren’t drinking beer on the beach anymore!