police and rescue teams are pleading with the public to avoid a dangerous but popular spot for swimming in Essex County called The Devil's Hole earlier this month a Newark teenager drowned while swimming in the unsanctioned site and it's not the first time tragedy has struck in the area the drowning comes after the body of a Patterson teen was found in the Delaware Water Gap despite both areas being unsafe drownings continue to happen Melissa Rose Cooper reports on what officials are doing to discourage residents from swimming in these areas while this area has some Scenic Beauty to it it also is extremely dangerous and treacherous for people that wander into the area who don't really understand what's what it is underneath that body of water dangerous Cedar Grove Police Chief John Kennedy says can cost your life earlier this month as they died after attempting to swim here at Devil's Hole the area isn't sanctioned for swimming yet Kennedy says people still tend to venture to the site despite the warning signs either it's an extreme drop off from what would be you know ankle deep to 14 plus feet deep and once you get trapped in that water underneath it where you can't see or logs Boulders things of that nature that you could become trapped in and subsequently drown the drowning at Devil's Hole is one one of the latest across New Jersey on Sunday Searchers in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area discovered a 19 year old's body days after he disappeared while swimming park officials say there have been more than a hundred drownings there since they began keeping records in the 1970s 60 of all drownings in the water crop have occurred while someone was swimming and all of them did not have a properly fitted life jacket and um that's the number one thing you can do to prevent these drownings is to wear properly fitted life jacket anytime you were natural water settings I mean you're really in an uncontrolled environment if you're in a you know a river a large body lake or even the ocean there's a current and you know that current pushes against your body many people underestimate their swimming abilities Adam ketchumarchi is the executive director for the national drowning prevention Alliance he says swimming in sanctioned areas always comes with a risk so it's even more important to avoid areas where it's prohibited and what we've learned through covet is many people are not reverting back to their you know previous Recreation ways prior to the pandemic um so now we're we're much more used to you know going to these undesignated swimming areas and many people are just simply unprepared for the risks that they're going to face in those areas when you think about these undesignated areas emergency response isn't there and drowning is fast and it's silent it's going to happen in 30 to 60 seconds and now you're relying on bystanders to make that rescue instead of a professional that knows what they're doing and oftentimes that could lead to multiple victims which is something we absolutely want to prevent since the latest drowning in Devil's Hole more security measures are being put into place including new cameras that send a live feed to police so officers constantly monitor who's in the area and we can send squad cars out there if needed officers conduct routine Patrols in the area as well I been in touch with our Engineers as well the state dep to see what types of permanent Solutions can be implemented in the water and for now with the camera our routine police presence and working with the state to see what we can do to to stop people from actually entering the water we're considering whatever options we we have to ordinances are in place prohibiting entry into the water a Devil's Hole anyone caught can be issued a summons but Town officials hold people will instead take the warning seriously so they can stay safe for NJ Spotlight News I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]