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Virginia Beach Police keep up community partnerships to improve safety along Shore Drive

Police in Virginia Beach have their sights set on improving safety in other parts of the city, apart from the Oceanfront.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Shore Drive is bustling. Bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and other storefronts line the corridor. 

Law enforcement says there have been seven deadly crashes in this part of the city in the last three years. 

"It's not just the fatalities; there's a lot of accidents that result in people being maimed or seriously injured," said Capt. Jeffery Wilkerson, commanding officer for the third precinct. 

Virginia Beach Police is taking a strategy they implemented at the Oceanfront, building a relationship with agencies and business owners.

"I said, 'Hey, we've got members over on Shore Drive and I really see this could be a valuable exercise to do over there,'" Virginia Beach Restaurant Association Director Stacey Shiflet told 13News Now. 

Businesses along Shore Drive attract less of a seasonal crowd. A lot of the patrons are locals. Business owners are concerned about speeding, traffic, and congestion.

That's why Beach police joined the restaurant association, fire department, Alcoholic Beverage Control authority, and criminal justice services. They all met with bar and restaurant managers along Shore Drive for the first time this week.

"Creating a collaboration where we can look at some age-old issues and concerns from all sides and really look at it from different perspectives, so we can come up with a way to manage these things," said Billy Hudson, the owner and manager of Central Shore Restaurant. 

They talked about the possibilities of boosting police presence, adding fencing, or more crosswalks.

Police proposed bars and restaurants get on a scanner system to check IDs and tip others businesses about customers asked to leave on bad behavior.

"It's in their best interest to have video surveillance at their business to control the parking lot," said Wilkerson. 

"But what we also asked them to do -- and this is where we talked about the collaboration -- is, 'Hey, if you have a parking lot that's not well lit, just like Jeff said with the cameras, bring in some additional lighting,'" said Capt. Harry McBrien, commanding officer for the Second Precinct. "Let's all work together and increase the safety."

The coalition will meet again along Shore Drive on August 26. If you're with a bar or restaurant in the area who'd like to join, call either 757-385-2750 (Second Precinct) or 757-385-2711 (Third Precinct). 

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