Coyotl Tezcatlipoca had a big issue with security as he stood near the base of Huntington Beach Pier, where bikini- and boardshorts-wearing beachgoers were flooding into the main venue of the U.S. Open of Surfing.

“Searching people’s bags, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Tezcatlipoca said to the officers as he sat on the sand, with his wife and 11-month-old son nearby.

Soon, the man described by his wife as a Costa Mesa immigration activist, was in a heated argument with police about free speech and personal-property rights, and he threw his hands – well, middle fingers – and screamed an obscenity to show officers how he felt about the invasion of his personal property. Within seconds, police pulled his hands behind him and arrested him on charges of using “offensive words in public” and “interfering with a permitted event.”

Police and security are out in full force at the world’s largest surf festival, which started Saturday in Huntington Beach. They’ve taken a no-nonsense policy after last year’s post-event riot and last week’s social-media scare that prompted the arrest of a Huntington Beach teen who threatened the crowds at the event.

“Everyone coming here is subject to search by security. You can’t go watch a hockey game, you can’t go to a concert … without being searched,” Huntington Beach police Lt. Mitch O’Brien said.

“Why do you think you can go into a giant surfing event and not be searched? This is post 9/11.”

Police say the tight security is not just to catch people with beer in public – though that’s part of it – but mostly to keep people safe.

Security is beefed up more than ever at this year’s event, with heavy police presence, undercover officers walking the sand, burly security guards wearing shirts reading “HOSPITALITY AMBASSADOR,” and even horses with officers to control the crowds.

Cameras have been added downtown and on the pier so officers at the main office can monitor brewing issues. Black security cameras rented from the Santa Ana Police Department loom from poles over the festival area, recording a 360-degree view of the sand with a time stamp. The video is downloaded nightly.

“We can go back, if something happens, and pull that tape and capture anything that happened at the event all day,” O’Brien said. “We haven’t really kept that a secret; we put it out there that you are being filmed, so don’t do anything stupid.”

On the first day of the event, O’Brien said, there were 45 arrests citywide, with more than 20 in the downtown area. Only one fight was on the sand; most were in the bar area at night.

“It’s just typical stuff, guys and girls too drunk, falling down, can’t take care of themselves,” he said.

There were about 250 citations given during the event in 2012, the last year for which detailed numbers have been released. On a regular busy weekend, police average about 140 citations. Most are for public possession of alcohol or smoking on the beach.

Huntington Beach police contracted with other law-enforcement agencies, and each morning there is a briefing about what’s happening at the event in case those agencies need to come in to help.

The “hospitality ambassadors” in yellow shirts also are scattered along the site to keep people in line.

Shawn Laguana is a 375-pound, 6-foot-tall cook from Oregon standing in as a security guard at the event. He said the response from the older beachgoers has been mostly good, but some of the youngsters have an attitude.

“We try to be nice and kill them with kindness,” said Laguana, who has a big tattoo in Chinese writing on his bald head that he says reads “strong.”

Zoe Percival, 18, of Palm Springs, wasn’t happy about the search.

“I don’t really like it. Last year, it was more open. Now, there’s so much security. It’s not as much fun,” she said.

Brooke Johnson, 20, of Colorado, was bummed about having to put out her smoke, and even more about the ticket she got. She didn’t know it was illegal to smoke on the beach.

“I don’t have my glasses on, so I can’t see any of the signs,” she told the officer. “Oh man, I’m so bummed. I have zero dollars. I had no idea.”

Justine, 19, who didn’t want to give her last name, got a ticket for $250 – a fine doubled during the U.S. Open – for possession of alcohol on a city beach. Police poured out the Bacardi she had in a plastic bottle. She knew there would be security, but that didn’t stop her from trying to sneak in the booze.

“Last year I got away with it,” she said.

Police could have given her a ticket for being a minor in possession of alcohol, but decided against it so she wouldn’t have an $800 fine and lose her driver’s license.

“We use a lot of discretion,” Officer Victor Ojeda said. “They’re good kids.”

Tezcatlipoca’s wife, Gabriela, holding their son after Coyotl was taken away by police, supported her husband.

“You should put a sign that says you will be searched,” she said. “I think that whenever we see injustice, we have the right to speak up and educate others on it and not be afraid.”

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com