Rehoboth Beach police arrested a dozen men during the month of July in sting operations on the beach and the boardwalk.

Eight of the men arrested were charged with “unlawful sexual contact” for allegedly touching a male undercover officer in the genital area. The remainder of the men were arrested for alleged acts of solicitation, lewd conduct or indecent exposure and weren’t part of the sting operation.

Some local residents are calling the arrests entrapment and say the police department is unjustly targeting the gay community.

“The boardwalk at night, people go there and cruise,” said John Meng, manager of the Double L Bar in Rehoboth. “But the cop was young and much better-looking than anyone on the boardwalk. To me, that’s entrapment. You put some good-looking 21-year-old undercover cop in a tight pair of shorts and of course people are going to hit on him.”

Rehoboth resident Jim Anderson agreed.

“We have a problem with the police sending a very attractive young man down to the boardwalk, disguising himself as one of the group,” he said. “Then, after he’s been friendly and talking to folks, arrests them. Why was he undercover? Do you send attractive undercover young policewomen to stand outside of the heterosexual bars? Do you think if he would have been in uniform someone would have touched him?”

Rehoboth Police Chief Keith Banks disputed the accusations of entrapment. “[The officers] were coming into work wearing the normal clothes they would wear when going out, which is a T-shirt and shorts for down at the beach,” he said. “We wouldn’t have them in long pants or anything when it’s 90 degrees outside and humid. But they didn’t have short-shorts on. And as far as young, that’s what some officers are. Twenty-one is an average age. The older we get, the younger they look. Each and every year, I look out and they’re the same age but my age makes them look younger. But nobody is standing around trying to lead anybody in one direction.”

Banks said the operation was implemented in response to community complaints.

“Any time we have complaints, we address it. We’ve been getting more complaints on such things as people trespassing on other people’s property, engaging in sexual intercourse on the property or on the beach.”

Steve Elkins, editor of Camp Rehoboth, agreed with Banks’ assessment and said he doesn’t believe that the police were operating unfairly.

“I do know that some people that live on the south end of the boardwalk, who are openly gay, have complained about people coming into their yards and onto the dunes,” Elkins said. “So it’s not a gay or straight thing.”

Banks said the influx of summer tourists, or “June bugs,” usually increases the frequency of complaints.

“We’re getting increased complaints about people engaging in sex acts in public bathrooms in that area,” said the police chief. “We’ve had some complaints in reference to some parents who said their young children had been approached and been subject to inappropriate gestures. We went down to observe and see what’s going on. Nobody wants kids to be approached or anything like that.”

Elkins agreed, saying there are more serious issues than just gay cruising on the boardwalk.

“There are some horrific things that have gone on that have been part of this,” the editor said. “Unfortunately there were some people in the gay community that were masturbating in the bathrooms near Funland. I did question the one about soliciting for prostitution. Chief Banks told me that they went over and grabbed the undercover officer and put a $100 bill in his hand and said, ‘You’re going home with us. You’re ours for the night.’ That’s solicitation.”

Banks confirmed the alleged solicitation incident.

Elkins also said the police in Rehoboth have been generally fair in their patrols.

“For the most part, people that are getting too demonstrative on the beach late at night, they’re telling them to take it home. They’re not arresting them, straight or gay.”

Banks also said that undercover operations are as necessary to stemming unlawful activities as uniformed patrols.

“We have done it both ways,” Banks responded when asked if uniformed patrols would be as effective as undercover operations. “When you’re in a uniform, you’re not going to have a person come up and start asking you or kids any [sexually inappropriate] questions.

[The arrests were] primarily at night. Some arrests were during the day,” he added.

“There were some incidents in the restrooms where people were arrested for masturbating openly in the bathroom,” he said.

Banks said most of those arrested in the sting operation pleaded guilty and paid a fine.

The chief also said the police in Rehoboth Beach are not targeting any specific demographic.

“There’s a lot of people down here — visitors, residents and business owners,” he said. “Everybody is welcome. It’s just a couple of bad apples. It’s not a gay issue. In the past, we’ve made arrests of heterosexual couples for lewd acts in cases of skinny-dipping or anything else. We want to make sure that everybody is treated equally.”