Amity beach closures

The Amity beach closures were the central, bitterly contested public-safety measure of the summer crisis, a decision that forced Police Chief Martin Brody to choose between protecting lives and preserving the town's tourist-dependent economy. The closures became the flashpoint for a struggle that exposed the town's political corruption, its economic fragility, and the limits of official authority when confronted with a natural predator that refused to obey the rules of probability.

Background and First Closure

Brody's first instinct after the death of Christine Watkins was to close the beaches for a few days, giving the shark time to move away from the Amity shoreline. He wanted publicity, to make people fear the water and stay away from it. But he knew there would be a strong argument against publicizing the attack. The summer was shaping up as a mediocre one; rentals were up from last year, but many were "groupers," bands of young people splitting the rent on a big house. At least a dozen of the $7,000–$10,000-a-season shore-front houses had not yet been rented, and many more in the $5,000 class were still without leases. Sensational reports of a shark attack might turn mediocrity into disaster. Still, Brody thought, one death in mid-June, before the crowds come, would probably be quickly forgotten. The fish might well have disappeared already, but Brody wasn't willing to gamble lives on the possibility: the odds might be good, but the stakes were prohibitively high.

Suppression and the Second Attack

Brody's plan to close the beaches was immediately blocked by a coalition of economic interests. Harry Meadows, the editor of the Amity Leader, argued that running a story about a killer shark would ruin the summer: "If I run a story saying that a young woman was bitten in two by a monster shark off Amity, there won't be another house rented in this town." Mayor Larry Vaughan, a real estate broker, threatened Brody with removal from office, citing the corporate charter of the town which gave the selectmen the power to remove the chief. Vaughan had received cancellations and was under pressure from his partners. Brody reluctantly agreed not to close the beaches, a decision he immediately regretted. The beaches stayed open, and a week later, on Sunday, June 20, the shark killed six-year-old Alexander Kintner and, within an hour, sixty-five-year-old Morris Cater. Brody, overwhelmed by guilt and fury, ordered the beaches closed immediately. "One way or another," he told Officer Len Hendricks, "let's get the goddam beaches closed."

The Fourth of July Crisis

The closure devastated Amity's economy. Vaughan reported two cancellations of big leases that very morning. The sporting goods store posted signs announcing a clearance sale normally held over Labor Day weekend. Two new boutiques put off their debuts. Brody knew that one bad summer would nearly double the relief rolls. The pressure to reopen for the make-or-break Fourth of July weekend became intense. Vaughan, now revealed to be deeply in debt to a Mafia figure named Tino Russo through the shell company Caskata Estates, argued that the town was dying. Brody, after learning of Vaughan's entanglement from Meadows, reluctantly agreed to open the beaches on Saturday, July 3, but on his own terms: he would post men on the beaches, have Matt Hooper patrol in a boat, and make sure every person who came down there knew the danger. Vaughan protested that this would defeat the purpose, but Brody was adamant.

The Final Closure

The reopened beaches drew crowds, including a family from Queens who had driven two and a half hours hoping to see the shark. A television crew from WNBC-TV News filmed the scene. A teenage boy, Jim Prescott, accepted a ten-dollar bet to swim out a hundred yards. As he swam, Hooper, patrolling in Ben Gardner's boat, the Flicka, saw a shadow and warned Brody. The shark's fin appeared behind the boy. Brody ran into the water and pulled the terrified boy ashore just as the fin dropped beneath the surface. The shark had been sighted, and the beaches were officially closed again. Brody told the selectmen, "The fish has been here. If you've got anybody in the water down there, get them out. Right away. The beach is officially closed." The closure was now total and indefinite, leading directly to the decision to hire the professional shark hunter Quint and the final, fatal hunt at sea.