With spring break right around the corner, authorities across South Florida are putting the focus on safety, and officials in Miami Beach and putting the focus on fitness.. With their current campaign, the city is saying goodbye and good riddance to spring break, which they likened to a toxic ex. “We’ve divorced spring break; the spring break of the past is gone. We will never, ever go back there,” said Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne Jones. “This is a new era for this police department and for the city.” This year, the city’s message is “Wake Up to a New March,” while shifting their focus to fitness. Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner stressed they still want tourists to visit their city, as long as they do so responsibly. “Whereas in the past, we had residents who would literally leave during certain weekends in March, are now staying home enhoying out beautiful city,” said Meiner. “We are making a deliberate pivot, away from a party-centric spring break of the past and towards a month that celebrates all that Miami Beach has to offer: fitness, wellness and a healthier, more elevated experience here on the Beach,” said Miami Beach City Manager Eric Carpenter. The city’s crackdown campaigns have seemingly been working over the past few years. In 2025, officials reported fewer crowds, less chaos and no shootings, a stark contrast to past years. “We don’t have to go too far back in time to remember. In 2022, we had we had five shootings during sping break. In 2023, we had two fatalities, and in 2024 and 2025, we had no related incidences,” said Meiner. This year, the city will instead be breaking a sweat during spring break, hosting several fitness events like HYROX, Wodapalooza and a marathon. At the same time, the city is also ramping up security measures, like license plate readers, increasing parking garage prices, DUI enforcement and security checkpoints at beach accesses. Meiner said keeping businesses up and running safely is a delicate balance. Certain businesses reached out to us with suggestions. Many businesses thanked us for the measures we took, because it created a lever of order, and they were busy and didn’t have to deal with stampedes in their businesses where people [were] literally flipping over tables and not paying,” he said. “That was real, and that was happening in our city.” North of the county line, officials in Fort Lauderdale said they will be increasing security. Nevertheless. they have a different message for spring breakers “I’t’s really important that college kids know that Fort Lauderdale is putting out the welcome mat for you to come here, enjoy,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis. For Miami Beach’s list of spring rules and regulations, click here. For spring break details in Fort Lauderdale, click here. ...read more read less