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Pinellas County sheriff says people are following the rules on beaches

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office made no arrests and did not hand out citations over Mother's Day weekend.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Plenty of people in Pinellas County got some Vitamin D over the weekend. 

Beaches up and down the Gulf coast were packed. What was expected to be a very busy weekend on the beaches, turned out to be a good one as well.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says there were no beach-related arrests or citations. 

"I hope we get through this whole thing without having to issue one citation or make one arrest. That's not our goal, that's not our mindset. I would not characterize this as an enforcement effort or enforcement action. I would characterize this as we want to help people help us. We want to educate, we want to inform," Gualtieri said.

While they did have to close the beaches because they were at capacity, Gualtieri said people followed the rules.

"If everybody just keeps doing what they're doing now, the next few weeks I think will be great and people can come to the beach and have a good time, the businesses can get back to where they were and hopefully thrive and that's what we want to see up and down the Gulf coast," Gualtieri said.

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He says there are some concerns over the next few weeks, especially with Memorial Day weekend coming up. He says they'll continue to manage density and capacity. 

And, you need to do your part if you're headed to the beach, like social distancing and keeping groups less than 10 people.  And, use the sheriff's office's beach tracker dashboard and social media. Both will show you which beaches are full. 

Deputies will continue controlling crowds and directing people to some areas of the beach that are less crowded. 

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