Long Beach Township DWI Lawyer

Reviewed by William A. Proetta, Esq. · Updated November 2026

Long Beach Township Municipal Court logged 61 DWI filings in July 2025–June 2026, which works out to about 194 for every 10,000 year-round residents and the fourth-highest rate among Ocean County’s 33 municipal courts, even though the count itself slipped from 74 the year before. The township is a string of Long Beach Island neighborhoods, from Loveladies and North Beach down to Brant Beach, Spray Beach and Holgate, tied together by Long Beach Boulevard, and every DWI charged within those sections goes before the township court in Brant Beach. Courthouse logistics appear on our Long Beach Township Municipal Court page, and our overview of Ocean County DWI defense covers drunk-driving cases elsewhere in the county.

William Proetta Criminal Law defends Long Beach Township DWI cases for island homeowners, summer renters and weekend visitors who have already gone home. Dial (848) 238-2100 at any hour of any day for a free review of your case; hablamos español.

Long Beach Township DWI: Key Facts

• Where it’s heard: Long Beach Township Municipal Court (court code 1517), 6805 Long Beach Boulevard, Brant Beach. Court sits on Fridays, at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., usually once a month, with third-Friday sessions added from July through September.
• The complaint: a drunk-driving count under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50, frequently joined by a refusal charge (39:4-50.4a).
• Trend: down 13 filings, from 74 to 61, a drop of about 18%.
• Per-resident rate: roughly 194 DWI filings per 10,000 residents, placing the township 4th by rate among the county’s 33 municipal courts and 12th by raw count.
• Lowest first-offense bracket (0.08% to below 0.10%): $250 to $400 in fines, a jail term of up to 30 days, and an ignition interlock for three months.
• Negotiated pleas: allowed by statute since 2024, though municipal prosecutors seldom offer one.

Your Long Beach Township DWI Lawyer

An island arrest usually turns on what an officer saw along a single long road. William A. Proetta holds certification on the Draeger Alcotest 9510 from the company that builds it, and he is recognized under NHTSA standards as an instructor in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST), so he knows the training a Long Beach Township officer is expected to follow. He has more than 15 years of criminal trial experience. On a Long Beach Township file he studies the reason for the stop on the Boulevard, how the roadside exercises were explained and scored, and whether the breath test followed protocol. If you call, you speak with him directly, and he stays your contact until the case is over.

This court changes its routine with the seasons, and a DWI defendant should know how. Every session falls on a Friday with two start times. From January through June and again in November and December, the 8:30 a.m. calendar runs by video and the 11:00 a.m. calendar meets in person in Brant Beach; from July through October the order flips, with the in-person calendar first and the video calendar second. Summer adds a third-Friday session in July, August and September. Judge Benjamin Mabie presides. Because a DWI carries interlock and license consequences, the judge confirms you understand them before accepting any plea, whichever format you are assigned. Phone the court at 609-361-6661 to check your format, and don’t try to record the proceeding, which the court prohibits.

What Long Beach Township’s DWI Filings Show

The township’s DWI count fell last year, from 74 in July 2024–June 2025 to 61 in July 2025–June 2026. That decline ran against the county as a whole, where Ocean County’s municipal courts went from 1,880 DWI filings to 2,041. It also ran against the court’s own workload, since overall non-parking filings in Long Beach Township rose from 3,288 to 3,399.

Measured against 3,153 permanent residents, 61 filings equal about 194 per 10,000, six times the county figure of roughly 32. Only three Ocean County courts post a higher rate, Seaside Heights at the top among them. The reason is not hard to see. Long Beach Island fills with renters and day-trippers each summer, and the court adds sessions from July through September to keep pace, yet the rate divides by a census count of year-round residents only.

Read the figures with care. A filing is a charge, not a conviction, and a single arrest can produce both a DWI and a refusal complaint. At 61 cases, a handful of busy summer weekends can move the total. The report also can’t show if your own stop was justified or if your breath test was run by the book.

The population of 3,153 and the land area of 5.45 square miles are 2020 Census figures; the count of 35 sworn officers is the 2025 FBI figure compiled by PoliceCensus. Treat the per-10,000 number as a yardstick for court activity, not as the fraction of residents charged, because most people arrested on the island in season live somewhere else. A department of 35 officers covering a narrow island can still put more than one officer on a stop, so we ask for every officer’s body-worn and in-car video, the dispatch log and each supplemental report.

No interstate, U.S. or state highway runs through Long Beach Township, so nearly every DWI stop here is made by Long Beach Township police on the Boulevard, Bay Avenue or a side street. Route 72 comes across Manahawkin Bay and ends in Ship Bottom, which means a driver followed off the causeway can be stopped in Ship Bottom or, after turning south toward Brant Beach, inside the township; the spot where the car stopped decides which municipal court hears the case. The same goes at the Beach Haven border. If New Jersey State Police troopers or another town’s officers assisted, their reports become part of the file too, and we request recordings and reports from each agency that was there.

Reviewing the Evidence in a Long Beach Township DWI Case

We divide a Long Beach Township arrest into three legal questions and answer each one from the recordings. Was there a lawful basis to stop the car? Did what the officer saw justify asking DWI questions? Did everything together add up to probable cause?

Roadside observations and field sobriety tests

Long Beach Boulevard is a long, flat road crossed by side streets at short intervals and, in season, shared with pedestrians and cyclists. Balance tests performed on a sandy or uneven shoulder, under mixed street and headlight glare, are harder for anyone. NHTSA’s validation studies of its three tests, the eye-movement check, walk-and-turn and one-leg stand, were done in controlled conditions, and age, weight, injury, footwear and the surface all affect performance. Mr. Proetta measures the officer’s demonstrations and every clue marked on the score sheet against what the NHTSA manual requires, frame by frame. More on challenging field sobriety tests.

Declining to perform roadside exercises does not, on its own, establish probable cause, although other signs of impairment can still support an arrest.

Breath-test records and the testing timeline

The New Jersey Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in State v. Chun allows an Alcotest result into evidence only when the test follows strict conditions. One of the most important is a 20-minute observation period before the first sample, so that belching, regurgitation or alcohol left in the mouth can’t inflate the reading. For a Long Beach Township arrest we check the operator’s certification, the control and calibration records, the instrument’s own printouts, and whether the times on the video match the Alcohol Influence Report. A gap in that timeline is a common reason to challenge a reading. Our guide to the Alcotest 9510 goes further.

Refusal allegations

Turning down roadside exercises and refusing the station breath test carry different legal consequences. To prove refusal under 39:4-50.4a, the State must show probable cause for the DWI arrest, a correct reading of New Jersey’s standard statement, and an actual refusal; a driver who tried but could not supply enough breath may have instrument data that says so. For a first refusal the penalties are a $300 to $500 fine, a license forfeiture lasting until the device is in place, followed by 9 to 15 months of interlock use, and they stand even if the DWI count is dismissed. See our page on breath-test refusal in New Jersey.

New Jersey DWI Penalties

Any DWI conviction also requires the Intoxicated Driver Resource Center (IDRC) program and three years of Motor Vehicle Commission surcharges, at $1,000 per year for a first or second DWI and $1,500 per year after a third. And under the 2025 interlock statute (P.L.2025, c.41), a driver facing a suspension may drive with an interlock and earn one day of suspension credit for every two days the device is in use, though the credit does not apply to drug-impaired driving or to cases involving serious bodily injury.

For a side-by-side chart of first, second and third offense penalties, including the 2-for-1 interlock credit, see our New Jersey DWI penalties chart.

Learn more: ignition interlock rules, a second DWI, a third DWI and drug DWI charges.

Source: New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, DWI and refusal penalties; N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.

Can a Long Beach Township DWI Case Be Resolved Through a Plea Agreement?

It can happen, but don’t plan around it. Lawmakers made room for negotiated DWI pleas, and the New Jersey Supreme Court followed in February 2024 by withdrawing Guideline 4 and its ban. Municipal prosecutors across the state still rarely offer them, and a Long Beach Township defendant is better off preparing the case as though no deal will be on the table.

The evidence is what moves a Long Beach Township DWI. A stop on the Boulevard without a lawful reason, field tests given on a poor surface or explained wrongly, or missing pieces in the Alcotest records can support suppression or dismissal, and those same weaknesses are what lead a prosecutor to consider a resolution. The judge still decides whether to accept a plea, and only after facts establishing guilt are placed on the record.

Preparing for Your Long Beach Township Court Appearance

• Match the season to your notice. Outside July–October the 8:30 a.m. session is virtual; during those months it is in person. Call 609-361-6661 if you aren’t sure which one is yours.
• Plan the trip if you live off the island. An in-person session means reaching the municipal building in Brant Beach on a Friday morning, so leave extra time.
• If you appear by video, join from a quiet, well-lit room with a charged device, and never from behind the wheel.
• Don’t record the session. The court does not allow recordings.
• Write down where you were stopped, including the cross street or section name (Brant Beach, Holgate, Loveladies), and keep every ticket, the refusal paperwork and your release forms.
• Bring in a lawyer before the first Friday so the request for videos and Alcotest data is made right away. Each stage is laid out in our New Jersey DWI overview.

Long Beach Township DWI FAQs

Discuss Your Long Beach Township DWI Charge

Many people charged on the island are home again within a day or two and wondering what comes next. Call us before your first Friday court date and have your summonses and court notice nearby. A short first call is usually enough to pin down the court, the officers involved and the deadlines ahead. The line is (848) 238-2100, answered 24 hours a day; the review is free and confidential, and se habla español. Our firm also takes on other charges in Long Beach Township Municipal Court and DWI cases across the bay in Stafford Township.