GULF SHORES, AL – There’s a certain vibe to spring break in Panama City.

Or, at least in the past there has been. The Florida city besot with college students’ revelry for years is trying to change its reputation of being the biggest spring break party around.

Laws, and law enforcement attitudes are changing there; among the biggest is no alcohol on the beach. Internet rumors say college students may chose Pleasure Island as an alternative.

Those communities which do a bustling big spring break business are taking notice. And while Gulf Shores and Orange Beach have had their share of partying college students, they have not had widespread problems.

Officials want to keep it that way.

“Panama City for years has had that type of personality and that type of a reputation,” Gulf Shores spokesman Grant Brown said. “We have not. Our plan is to continue to keep our family-friendly destination and that is who we are. And who we’ll fight to remain.

“The fact that they had issues over there more than anything verifies why we want to continue to be the family-friendly resort destination and not tolerate those types of activities.”

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon says his city welcomes spring breakers, especially well-behaved ones.

“We’re taking this very strong stance to try and make sure we don’t turn into what Panama City turned into,” Kennon said. “But at the same time we welcome anybody of any age that wants to come down here and enjoy themselves but understands who we are.”

His city is taking a no-tolerance stance on illegal behavior by college students who plan to spring break in Orange Beach.

“We’ve made it very clear that there are no warnings, no mulligans or do-overs,” Kennon said. “If you’re drinking under age, if you’re doing drugs, misbehaving or publicly intoxicated you are going to jail.”

Gulf Shores Police Chief Ed Delmore will lead a pre-spring break meeting with other city officials, rental management companies and officials from Orange Beach to get ready for the season.

The group meets today at 10 a.m. at the Gulf Shores Cultural Center on Oak Road East, or County Road 6.

“I’ll speak about spring break strategy generally speaking,” Delmore said. “Paul Maliska, one of our command level officers, will be talking about what the management folks can do when they see an incident beginning to develop and how we can come in and tamp that down in advance to avoid issues.

“Extremely proactive is the phrase I would use.”

An example of that was evident in 2015 as police ramped presence and enforcement to keep spring break in check.

“For the 2015 spring break year we took advantage of other agencies coming in to help us plus our regular police department,” Brown said. “We had hired the beach enforcement officers so some of them were able to be on the beach and do the enforcement on the sand. We got our Gulf Shores Beach Patrol which is our officers assigned to the beach and also the parking area there by Gulf Place.

“Plus the lifeguards, they kick in and they’ll start being on the beach. They can help not only with life safety but also spot any problems and call the police department. So we feel like we’ve got a good handle again on spring break.”

One topic Delmore will expand on is the new Leave Only Footprints program. This will include removing all items from the beach nightly and stronger litter enforcement.

“The litter ordinance going into effect has created a better way for the city to enforce our ordinances by making sure people are required to clean up after themselves,” Brown said. “The Leave Only Footprints will help because of these large compounds won’t be able to set up on the beaches and left overnight where it becomes an attractive nuisance, particularly to partiers.”

In Orange Beach all police and fire personnel will be on call for the entire month of March.

“Basically no time off, no vacations, no off days if we need that number of personnel to do what we need to do to make sure Orange Beach stays family-friendly,” Kennon said. “We’re going to have uniformed officers, plainclothes officers; we’re going to have county backup. We’re going to do everything we can do to discourage any kind behavior that’s not conducive to us remaining the type of town we are.”