FLORIDA \u2013 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has a new plan to stop teen takeovers, and he\u2019s making clear the state has no patience for violence. The announcement came just 10 days after Uthmeier reposted his disappointment over a massive teen takeover at Clearwater Beach on June 1, where a 17-year-old was shot by another teen and taken to the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be zero tolerance,\u201d Uthmeier said.<\/p>\n
What the plan does<\/p>\n
Under the initiative, local law enforcement agencies will remain in charge of field operations \u2014 interviewing witnesses, executing search warrants, and making arrests. The state\u2019s Office of Statewide Prosecution, or OSP, will step in as a support force, providing three layers of assistance:<\/p>\n
Subpoena Power: OSP will use its investigative authority to quickly demand records and compel sworn testimony \u2014 tools that can be difficult for local agencies to obtain on their own.<\/p>\n
Legal Expertise: OSP prosecutors will offer real-time legal advice and help local departments draft warrants, vehicle tracker orders, and other investigative documents.<\/p>\n
Case Referrals and Direct Prosecution: OSP is prepared to prosecute multi-circuit and organized criminal activity directly, or refer cases to local prosecutors to ensure no offenders slip through the cracks.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement frustrated by recurring events<\/p>\n
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri made clear the problem goes beyond crowds simply gathering.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t that they just come and hang out \u2014 too many of them result in very tragic situations and unlawful activity,\u201d Gualtieri said.<\/p>\n
He added bluntly: \u201cA takeover event \u2014 they don\u2019t get to take over stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Northeast Florida, local law enforcement has already been fighting the problem by monitoring social media. When officers identify a planned event, they move in to shut it down before it starts.<\/p>\n
Tourists welcome \u2014 violence is not<\/p>\n
Uthmeier was direct about the state\u2019s message to visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to come down here, we want tourists \u2014 come and enjoy our beautiful beaches and have a good time,\u201d Uthmeier said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re going to come down here and be violent and cause mayhem and destruction and run around in the middle of the road and obstruct traffic and scare business owners, we are going to be the most hospitable state you have ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials stressed that enjoying Florida\u2019s beaches is welcome \u2014 disrupting them is not.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLORIDA \u2013 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has a new plan to stop teen takeovers, and he\u2019s making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,110325],"class_list":["post-304607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-teen-takeovers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}