Officials say the size of music festivals makes them ‘impossible to police’Kaskade Coachella

Officials say the size of music festivals makes them ‘impossible to police’

Due to high demand, the number of music festivals across the country grows exponentially every year almost to the point where now the entire year can be considered “festival season.” But officials believe the massive crowds drawn to these events are nearly impossible to control. Using logistics from the 2014 HARD Summer festival, L.A. County sheriff’s deputy Dan Whitten put 373 officers on the ground each day totaling over 4,700 workable hours to monitor the 38,000 guests each day. Thanks to the security checkpoints, pat downs and drug-sniffing dogs, they collected over 31 pounds of drugs in the amnesty boxes at the entrance but even with that manpower he believes it’s still “impossible” to police large-scale festivals.

In regards to the Live Nation event, Whitten made this statement: “You just do all you can and try to keep people safe. My experience with Live Nation — they were very responsible. It cost them an arm and a leg, but they did everything we suggested that they do when it comes to safety. They had more medical staff than I’ve ever seen, every cop I wanted to put out there, they said ‘OK.’ ”

Live Nation’s spokeswoman Melissa Zukerman gave this response: “Live Nation plans to fully cooperate with the county supervisor’s request for an investigation. The festival plan was designed with direct input and approval from all the relevant county and government agencies as well as the fairground’s management.”

After this year’s HARD Summer saw drug-related deaths of two teenage girls, L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis called for an investigation and a temporary ban on all rave-like events until adequate security and safety measures are discussed and put into place.

 

Via: San Gabriel Valley Tribune

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