The Beach Observation Scale is a significant aspect of the research aspect of the Project in that it measures, not attitudes or opinions, but rather actual behavior. There always are so many descriptions of any particular set of behavioral circumstances, particularly one as complex as the summer long behavior in a seaside resort, that it is of particular importance to obtain an objective measure of, or sample of, the behavior that really occurred. Moreover, there is a sense in which the tests of attitude and opinion need to be validated by observation. For example, if the teenagers move toward more permissive attitudes, does their behavior reflect this or do the changes in attitude reflect a more frank approach of the teenager to the interviewer? Also, it is most important for the understanding of the Project and the dynamics surrounding the Project to have some kind of description of the parallel programming done by the various police departments. The police were very much in evidence all summer long. What did they do? Did they really have any effect on the behavior of the young people, or was their presence a kind of balm to the anxieties of the adult population on the Beach? We probably can only answer questions such as this by inference, at best. In summary, then, the Beach Observation provides an objective measure of behavior, and provides the opportunity to check on various other research and programming devices. It is, in brief, a "reality testing" device.

The Beach Observation Scale included some twenty-one behavioral possibilities: clustering (individuals standing around in groups of two to eleven or more), ball throwing, sex play, acrobatics, carrying guitar and blanket, shouting, singing, covering someone with sand, fighting, staring or muttering at the police and a host of police activities - standing around in groups, promenading, detaining vehicles, talking to adults and to youth, admonishing legally and illegally, arresting, traffic flow directing, and tracking (or following someone down the boardwalk).

The Beach Observation Scale was conducted only on weekends, Saturday and Sunday and on two specific periods of the day - mid-afternoon (usually from 3 PM to 4 PM) and in the mid-evening (usually from 8 PM to 9 PM). Observations were made for fifteen minute periods divided into five three-minute sections in which the observer would make a systematic sweep of his particular sector noting the presence of the above-mentioned behavioral categories. There was a fifteen minute "break" between the observation periods, making for two observation periods within the hour. There were three sectors in which the Beach Observation Scale was employed: from "C" Street north to the statue (roughly three blocks), from "C" Street to the Chamber of Commerce Buildings (roughly three blocks), and from "C" Street to the end of the playground (roughly three blocks). These are significant zones. From "C" Street to the Chamber of Commerce Building we have what has been called the "combat zone". The C.A.V.E. building was next to the playground and this zone included the area of the bandstand in which programs were given on a regularly scheduled basis.

In addition to the rather straight-forward method employed in recording the types of behavior observed, the observer was encouraged to write his more informal subjective impressions on the reverse side of the observation sheet. These become valuable when we approach significant weekends.

Perhaps the only regrettable part of this Beach Observation Scale is that they were given relatively late in the season. The first was given on July 17th. It would, of course, be helpful if we could have a recording of the behavior on the beach from the beginning of the summer.

The tables on the following pages contain in capsule form the data gathered by this Scale. By and large, the tables are self-explanatory. Perhaps it should be noted that it is possible to compare each item across the various waves. Also, within certain categories of activity, one can compare one type of activity with another. The activity of clustering can be compared within itself. For example, of the groups of people clustered in the observation sectors on the weekends of July 17th and July 25th, twenty-two percent of them clustered in groups of two; while nearly ten percent of the individuals during this period were in groups of eleven or more. Items in activities numbered from two (2) through eleven (11) can likewise be compared, as can items twelve (12) through twenty-one (21). In this way we can not only obtain a picture of what happened in each type of activity over the summer, but we may ascertain what sort of activity was predominant in the various groups of activities.

There is an important consideration to remember when reading these data as presented in the following tables. The observations are of all activities by all age groups. This is not necessarily teenage behavior. When we see, for example, clusters of individuals, we should not draw the conclusion that these clusters are of adolescents alone. There are clusters of adults on the Beach also, just as pre-adolescent youngsters engage in acrobatics and not teenagers alone.

It is probably necessary once again to offer the usual apology; the individuals who made these observations were not rigidly trained, highly disciplined sociologists. What is reported here are systematic observations and not highly skilled observations. Undoubtedly, there were many discrete activities that escaped the observer's eye. Nonetheless, when taken as a whole, these observations make up a most believable account of the kind of activity which transpired on Hampton Beach in the summer of 1965.

It is of interest to note that if the young people on the Project Staff were observing the beach, they too, were being observed. Over and over again they comment on the kind of attention they seem to draw to themselves by their research and note-taking methods. The young people tend to regard them with curiosity, the adult tourist with mild suspicion, and the police reaction is often tinged with hostility and defensiveness.

It is a relative certainty that when examining such a scale as this that one might have the feeling that such-and-such a behavior should have been included, or that there should have been other or different observational sectors and/or times. And yet reading through the notes and comments by the observers one is aware that every kind of situation prevailed in each of the sections and within the confines of the observations time periods. It would be interesting to have made other observations at other places and times, but limitations of staff would not have permitted it.

Let us now attempt to draw some general conclusions from the Beach Observation Scale. It should be said that these conclusions are not listed in the order of importance, however "importance" is conceived. The first thing that could be said is to reply to the often-heard remark that the Beach is dominated by youth. Without question, there are many young people on Hampton Beach. But, if the informal remarks of the observers are to be believed, there are just as many times when there are great crowds of adults on the beach. What seems to happen is that the youth congregate conspicuously in one or two places and typically make their presence known by several ways such as shouting, horseplay, etc. Nevertheless, there are times on the beach when the adults seem to predominate.

One of the most important aspects of the scale is its measuring of clustering behavior. It is important for several reasons. The first is that such behavior seems to be a kind of prime target for police work. It has been stated many times by the police that it is from such clusters of young people that "disturbances" arise. We know from the random interview data that many of the youngsters come to Hampton Beach specifically to "hang around"; we know from the Irritability-Deviancy Scale that one of the activities objected to by adults is "hanging around" on the part of the young people. To hear some of the people who attempt to describe the Beach situation one conjures up clumps of youngsters knotted about every square in the sidewalk. Yet, when we look at the data supplied by the Beach Observation Scale, we see that most of the groups - adult and adolescent - are of quite moderate size. However, this statistical data needs to be balanced off by the more informal observations which say that when there are groups of people over eleven in number they are almost always groups of adolescents consisting of from thirty to sixty people. It is these large, conspicuous groups which tend to create an overall impression that the beach is populated entirely by teenagers. From these observations, then, we know that there are large groups of youngsters, but that they constitute only a legitimate part of the beach population as a whole.

One of the very interesting features of the Beach Observation Scale is that device which enables us to know whether or not a particular kind of activity persists over the summer. We were speaking about large groups, usually adolescents, clustered about the boardwalk area. Do these large clusters tend to persist through the summer? We know that by examining the rate of clustering for this group that there tends to be a rather sharp drop-off through the summer. The rates of Wave I for clusters of eleven or more are 121.51 and for Wave III, 65.90. There is a mild upturn in this rate over the Labor Day Weekend. Also by examining the rates in the various waves, we can see that this lessening of large clusters is compensated for by a marked increase in the mid-range clusters, groups of six to ten.

Through the random interviews given this summer we know that the young people come to Hampton Beach to "hang around and sunbathe". What else can they do? They tell us that they are attracted to the beach by the presence of the opposite sex. Boy-girl relationships, sex play, is a most conspicuous type of activity seen on Hampton Beach. It is interesting to note that this activity increases through the summer period. This seems to correspond to the opinions expressed by the teenagers on the Irritability-Deviancy Test in which they seem to have, especially in the second wave of the teenage females, a permissive attitude toward kissing in public. It is almost amusing to note that the only activities which outrank sex play in the early part of the summer are shouting and ball throwing, and I think we can assume that a great deal of the ball throwing is being done by the younger children.

It is most interesting to compare Wave III-A with the rest of the summer. The groups of young people have tended to even out in terms of size; they are neither standing around in two's and three's, nor are they, like the beginning of the summer, bunched in large clusters. There is a marked decrease in all activities (and we must remember that the "rate" measurement is a proportionate analysis. Interestingly, the only activity which seems to persist with any kind of substance is sex play, and even that is reduced from the previous time period of observation. What are the young people doing in the presence of so many police on the Labor Day Weekend? Apparently, standing around and talking; they do not engage in any activity which might release tension or be a form of self-expression. When we look at items #9 and #10, we see that there is a great deal of staring at the police, but no muttering about what they are doing. One gets the feeling, even from these rather cold statistics, of a suppressive, unjoyful atmosphere. One wonders why sex play manages to escape this suppressive mood. Probably because the couples are relatively isolated and engaged in an activity which police consider to be unproductive of a disturbance.

One more interesting note before we look at the police activity over the summer period. It has been judged by various officials that playing a guitar and wearing a blanket is not proper at Hampton Beach. In fact, youngsters are stopped by the police for this particular activity. It is, then, interesting to see what happens to this activity over the summer period. Generally, it decreases; in fact, it virtually becomes nonexistent over the Labor Day period. It would seem that the police have effectively communicated their message.

There was great hope on the part of the merchants of Hampton Beach that the police would solve the problem of youthful disturbances. They were there this summer in great numbers for the entire season and in almost overwhelming proportions over the Labor Day Weekend. As to the questions of whether or not this is an effective way of handling teenage problems with the adult community, this research report cannot say. All we can do here is to make reports of the systematic observations made and draw our conclusions from these observations. Obviously, matters of policy are beyond the scope of this report. However, it is the hope of this reporter that, taken with the other data collected during the Project, that such findings could constitute some of the background out of which decisions for the future will be made on Hampton Beach, particularly with regard to youth.

The significant factor in observing police activity on Hampton Beach is that they are a presence. Either by standing around or promenading they communicate the fact that they are there. (We have chosen to call the police activity of walking their beat "promenading" because it really seemed that they were not simply walking; they were walking with purpose, purpose to demonstrate their superior size and strength and authority; their manner of walking was in harmony with their real purpose.) It would seem, therefore, that this type of activity was not simply random, unmotivated behavior, but that such 'presence' was very much a part of an official police program of law enforcement. As such it might well have very real educational merit. To obtain a more accurate picture of the activity of "standing around" by the police, let us further break down the date from the Observation Scale. The following table contains this analysis.

Table 3 to be inserted at a later date

Numbers of Individual State and Local Police And Numbers of Clusters of State and Local Police By Observational Waves

By studying this particular table we can immediately tell that there were always on Hampton Beach a rather large number of police. Usually, they stand in pairs of officers. And, we can see that through the main part of the summer there tended to be fewer and fewer police. Of course, there was a real massing of police power over the Labor Day period, Wave III-A. It is also of interest to note that the major police work done on the boardwalk area, and hence the major kind of confrontation with the public, particularly the youth public, is by the State Police. They are in the dominant position, with nearly a four-to-one margin in Wave II. The only exception to this is the Labor Day weekend, and this difference is made up of local police brought in from varying outlying towns. And so it is fairly obvious that with these numbers of police simply standing around that they become very much a part of the climate of the Beach situation.

We might make the assumption that this "standing around" is effective on the part of the police only insofar as it relates to other kinds of activity. If there were no other activities on the part of the police to reinforce their "presence", very soon they would become like the woodwork, an accustomed sight. Let us then examine what other kinds of activity is engaged in by the police keeping in mind that its effect is intensified by their continual presence. Perhaps the most single striking observation, after the one about "standing around," is how very few arrests there really were. Over the summer period hardly any arrests were observed by our staff. This is not to say that there were no arrests made, but it surely indicates something that the police themselves confirm; there were far fewer arrests this summer than in previous summers.

Perhaps a crucial item in the Observation Scale is the one referring to Admonishing Illegally. Across the summer those who worked in CAVE were most conscious of the fact that there seemed to them to be a policy of harassment on the part of the police. Our observers did note this activity on the part of the State Police in particular. It is interesting to observe that this activity increases during the summer until we get to Labor Day where it falls off precipitously. On the other hand, legal admonishment seems to be headed in the same direction. However, it takes a sharp drop in the last two weeks of August.

Conversational encounters, presumably friendly, take another interesting turn. There seems to be a fairly constant pattern of State Police officers conversing with youth on the Beach, until Labor Day weekend arrives, where it drops to the lowest point of the season. Also, the pattern of conversational encounters between officers and adults is on a fairly consistent level, until Labor Day weekend. During this last weekend of the summer, the conversation between state police and adults dramatically increases, almost tripling. This same general pattern is also followed by the local police, with this one exception: the local police increasingly talk to the young people through the summer so that by the time the Labor Day weekend arrives their conversation patterns with them are at their greatest intensity.

What can we say in conclusion about the behavior patterns of the police officers on Hampton Beach?

1. They are there. This is the most important element in the entire picture. They are there and they reinforce their presence with legal and "illegal" admonishing to the youth. This admonishing is perhaps a sort of educational technique, and might possibly be seen as a way of lowering the arrest rate. It would have this effect if those people who are admonished would actually get out of Hampton Beach, and not try to have "revenge" on those officers who admonished them.
2. There is a high frequency of non-legal conversation between the Beach public and the police officers. It is probably a very healthy thing for the community as a whole if these officers and these youth can continue to converse in a situation such as this. It seems, upon analysis, however, that in building for the Labor Day weekend that the local police were somewhat more intelligent in their approach; they built slowly through the summer in their conversational contacts with the young people on the beach. When they might have needed these contacts, they were at their highest.
3. It must be said that, in all fairness, the state and local Police probably did do an effective job of providing what we could call conscience reminders for the young people through the summer. Their continual presence was probably a continual reminder that undesirable behavior would not be tolerated. The question which the community must ask itself is whether or not it must continue to have such rigid definitions regarding acceptable and unacceptable behavior. We see, for example, in the Irritability-Deviancy Schedule that such rigid behavior definitions are not necessarily those of society. We may suspect, therefore, that such rigid behavior definitions are not those arrived at by a kind of popular consensus. It must also be asked by community whether it really wants this suppressed, no-activity atmosphere on its beach for the last weekend of the season. There will be those who argue that there is no alternative; and there will be those who argue that some other alternative must somehow be found. There is no question but that a large enough police force can enforce any kind of rule. We see this in the marked decline of guitar and blanket carrying; we see this in the spreading out of the clusters of people on the boardwalk. We know, in other words, that this kind of policy carried out through the police is in some ways a very effective way of dealing with the public.

Let us then, in a very cursory fashion, outline what was happening on Hampton Beach one evening this past summer when an alternative way of dealing with the problem of a crowd was being tried. It was a very warm weekend and the beach was very crowded. People seemed to be coming in from everywhere. It is a month before the Labor Day weekend, a time we know from our previous research in which a great many rumors were circulating as to the kind of "rumble" that was to follow. That evening, one mile or so away from the center of the Beach, the CAVE organization had engaged the facilities of the State Bathhouse for a Beach Party. There was extensive advertising along the beach front, and music, bonfire, and singing were promised - along with a most attractive admission rate. What did the beach look like while this CAVE-sponsored beach party was going on? Under such crowded conditions was there any trouble observed that night? Let us hear from the informal reports of the beach observers for this period.

Comment on the afternoon of August 7th: Quiet afternoon - no police - people moving along boardwalk quite quickly. Constant references to police as people walk by - mostly negative. Mostly young couples on beach - dispersed among these are a few older couples. There is a marked absence of police in this sector this afternoon. There is one definite difference between this sector and sector "1" and that is the amount of sex play going on in the crowds of people - I can't believe I'm a prude but . . . . .!

That evening: "traffic very heavy, a lot of families, very low tension (sector 3). In sector 2 there is little interplay between police and public, but the kids seem to be more accustomed to this situation than the adults. There is some controversy among an adult group of five when they are told to move, but the kids take the whole thing well in their stride. The beach is crowded and there seems to be a relaxed atmosphere. There is still a great deal of watchfulness on the part of the kids toward the police. They sing when the police aren't there to stop them. They stop when the police come by.

That night at the State Bathhouse was the largest open-air program CAVE put on during the entire summer. After that night, the merchants remarked how many people there were on the Beach. It was a beautiful weekend. There was a little conversation after this night among the merchants that there were a lot of suspicious characters about the beach that night. Yet, judging from the reports of the observers all was quiet on the front, relaxed and most peaceful.

Was there any connection of a causal nature between the CAVE party and the biggest night of the beach season? Who is to know. We can only guess that putting an additional 800 to 1,000 young people in the center of the beach might very well have provided the friction for an explosion. The police complained about the CAVE event because it split their forces. On the other hand, by dividing the youngsters like this, it is more than possible that a more manageable situation was thereby created.

Perhaps, in retrospect, we can say that this evening was the only time when a genuine attempt at an intervention technique was tried. No one can know if there would have been trouble if there had been no part at the State Beach simply because there was no trouble. It does seem that if good opportunities are provided for the young people, which they plan for themselves, that they do not lead to trouble, and more importantly, even on crowded weekends may be a genuine deterrent to trouble. If anyone were to look for some kind of demonstration as to whether or not the young people could plan for their own entertainment without damage to the adult community, it would seem that he might find it in such a night as the seventh of August. It may not represent a clearly proven alternative to the kind of social control methods used during the Labor Day weekend, but on the other hand, consider what happened leading up to this weekend, and what happened on the Labor Day weekend.

August 28th, 9-10 PM, Sector 1 - Troopers seem to be very alert to minor traffic violations. There were three different autos stopped in the first half hour. General Conditions - few people on boardwalk; pedestrian traffic light, motor traffic moderate to heavy.

State troopers seem to be putting pressures on kids in any way possible. Two State Police cars were parked on boardwalk and gave the illusion of more police than were actually present. Another (police) car cruising the boardwalk area.

September 4, 8 PM - I am extremely amazed that there actually appear to be more adults (i.e. people over 25) walking along the boardwalk than kids. There are virtually no groups on the railing - only an occasional individual. It is a rather cool, damp evening, but the sky is clear and the moon shining. Traffic is so light that I have yet to see a cop directing it. The numbers of police are somewhat ridiculous when the size of the crowd is considered. There is no one on the sane. There is no doubt about it - the state police are very impressive both by their size and numbers. As far as tension goes - I don't detect any. The police aren't being overtly friendly, but neither are they belligerent in any way.

Kids resent being spied on by the police!

It might be fitting to end this section of the report with a scrap of poetry, this by T. S. Eliot:

This is the way the world will end,
This is the way the world will end;
Not with a bang-
But with a whimper.

Notes

1. Date 7/17-7/25    No. of observations per period 79
2. Date 7/31-8/15    No. of observations per period 73
3. Date 8/21-8/29    No. of observations per period 44
4. Date 9/4-9/5        No. of observations per period 52
5. Date 8/21-9/5      No. of observations per period 96
6. Date 7/17-9/5      No. of observations per period 248

*The Rate is determined by dividing the number of times an item was observed by the number of observational periods and multiplying by 100. These rates allow one to compare the frequency of occurrence of the various items across observational waves.

o - y - State Police
oo - x - Local Police