Boiler Room weekender shut down

The inaugural Ray-Ban x Boiler Room Weekender stay-away music festival at the Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony, was reportedly shut down by police early Sunday morning (Nov. 6). The US event, which began on the Friday, was put to a stop at around 2 a.m. Sunday after Pennsylvania police arrested an attendee, according to Thump. Boiler Room issued a statement which began:

As is now well documented, our inaugural Ray-Ban x Boiler Room Weekender event was terminated early after issues with the local security and law enforcement. Following an unnecessary display of force against attendees present, we had no option but to shut down the music halfway through the second night of the festival.

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Fabric's licence suspended

One of London's biggest nightclubs has closed its doors for the foreseeable future.
It comes after two teenagers died of suspected drug overdoses in the last nine weeks. Fabric in Farringdon initially announced it was closing for the weekend but news emerged that the club's licence had been suspended after an application by the Metropolitan Police. Islington Council said "the Metropolitan Police applied for an interim suspension of Fabric's licence. Fabric agreed not to contest this application, and a licensing sub-committee has suspended Fabric's licence. This will be followed by a review of Fabric's licence within 28 days."

Solfest survives threat to licence

Solfest which takes place near Silloth in Cumbria (August 26-28) will go ahead despite a request from the Police to revoke the event's licence, saying organisers had failed to provide a detailed event management plan in enough time. In a report to Allerdale Council's licensing panel members, Superintendent Gary Slater said “It is the submission of Cumbria Constabulary that the event organisers are unable to satisfy the event safety group or the constabulary that they have the plans, capacity and capability to maintain public safety, protect children from harm, prevent crime and disorder and prevent public nuisance.”

The Panel has the power to revoke the festival’s licence and stop it going ahead. It can also modify the licence’s conditions, remove the premises’ supervisor, suspend the licence for three months or exclude a licensable activity from the licence. Allerdale Council have allowed the event to continue but have sent the Festival's organising committee a written warning. 

Local residents call for urgent changes to Notting Hill Carnival

The London Evening Standard reports that residents of Notting Hill have demanded drastic changes to the carnival after a “terrifying” surge in crime at this year’s parade. More than 100 people attended a public meeting to put their concerns to police, council chiefs and organisers. Eleven people were stabbed at the August bank holiday event and 407 arrests were made — the highest number in a decade. More than 40 blades were seized. Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe warned last month  that budget cuts mean Scotland Yard will not be able to guarantee the safety of revellers at next year’s parade. Policing the iconic event cost £6.5 million in 2015.

Image: David Sedlecký

Download faces privacy backlash

The organisers of the Download Festival are facing a backlash from fans who complained that the much vaunted and compulsory cashless payments system (which failed on the opening day) could be used to track them around the site, that personal details the system gathered  were being released to 'targeted marketing companies' and that festivals goer's faces were being scanned by "strategically placed cameras"at the Download festival site in Donington by the Leicstershire Police "before comparing [them] with a database of custody images from across Europe”.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/12/download-festival-heavy-punters-the-man-police?CMP=share_btn_fb

Leeds police victory good news for festival organisers

Leeds United Football Club have successfully challenged charges from West Yorkshire Police for policing any areas not “owned, leased or controlled’” by the club. The Police force had charged te club based on a ‘footprint’ on match days which included public highways, car parks abd the bus station near to Elland Road stadium, but in the High Court a reluctant Mr Justice Eady, noting the cost to the public purse from his decision, said that nothing in the law allowed the police to charge for a conveniently designated footprint. He added “I appreciate that my interpretation of the law is unfortunate not only for West Yorkshire Police but also for the public purse” but ordered the police to repay Leeds an estimated £1 million it had paid over the last three years concluding that the services rendered fell within the normal constabulary duty to keep the peace saying “More generally, it seems wrong to discount the majority of well-behaved fans who come to Elland Road, whether club supporters or visitors, all of whom retain their status as members of the public. In that capacity, they too are entitled to expect police protection”. Other clubs are also now expected to apply for refunds after other police forces charged for their services based on ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) guidance. ACPO said they were seeking legal guidance and reviewing the information provided by the ruling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18965193

As Leeds United test policing costs, WOMAD plans to go police free

Championship football team Leeds United, one of England’s biggest clubs, but with a history of fierce rivalry with other teams such as Cardiff City, Arsenal and Milwall, are challenging the spiralling cost of policing at the club’s Elland Road ground in the High Court. United were charged about £250,000 for policing during the 2007-2008 season, but by the 2011-2012 season this had risen to more than £1m, said club barrister Michael Beloff QC. United claim they have been wrongly charged by West Yorkshire Police for matchday work by the force on streets and car parks around Elland Road. They argue that the police should not bill them for maintaining order or preventing obstructions on land which is neither club-owned nor controlled and Leeds are now seeking to persuade top judge Mr Justice Eady to order a refund of the alleged overpayments. 

Mr Beloff told the High Court: “West Yorkshire Police’s insistence on charging Leeds United for such policing is illegal, as it is an attempt to charge a private citizen for the normal costs of policing, when such a citizen is entitled to expect such services to be provided by the police pursuant to their duties to the public.” He also said that the court action was “in the nature of a test case”. Mr Beloff said the footballing and policing worlds both hoped a ruling would provide “powerful guidance” on the issue.

And the WOMAD festival organisers have told the BBC that they may use security companies to police the event held at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, in Wiltshire if an agreement is not reached with the the local Wiltshire Police who currently say they will not be attending.  Now organisers have confirmed that this year's event will still go ahead even if an agreement over policing is not reached with WOMAD director Chris Smith telling the BBC the event are considering the use private security. He is quoted as saying, "We don't want to go ahead without the police, but where we are at the moment is the police have said they are not coming, so we are now revising our plans to present to the licensing authority to show that we can run the event without the police. It's not where we want to be, but it's currently where we're heading."

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/12/120706c.shtml

Festival fun helps Highland cops balance books

This is the headline from the Ross-shire journal reporting that Scottish music festivals in the Highlands have helped the Northern Constabulary save £2 million in the last year. Policing huge outdoor events like this weekend’s RockNess event near Inverness has helped keep the force in the black and save £2 million out a revenue budget of £51.5m for 2011/12 which was underspent. The paper says "Scores of officers are needed to police the thousands of revellers who attend several large music festivals and one-off concerts which are annually held in the region including the three-day RockNess event, Tartan Heart at Belladrum near Beauly and Loopallu in Ullapool" and they are, of course, charged for.  Andy Cowie, the force’s deputy chief constable, did not know how much cash had been raised from the policing of festivals but said "The public purse should not be subsiding private enterprise".

                                                                                                       

http://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/News/Festival-fun-helps-Highland-cops-balance-books.htm

Two arrested in Counterfeit CD raid in UK

Two men have been arrested after a large CD and DVD counterfeiting operation was discovered in a flat above a shop in Bognor in the United Kingdom. 150,000 CDs and DVDs and 100 computer hard drives containing 25,000 music, movie and software files were seized as part of the raid. The arrests followed a long investigation which began in North West England: investigators from the BPI's Anti-Piracy Unit were also involved in the raids.

Live Nation moves to stamp out ticket scams

Live Nation and Festival Republic have both said that they will support a plan put forward by the Police to try to combat the sale of non-existent tickets for festivals with both organizations saying that they will send out tickets for their big summer events earlier than normal. Despite the higher risk of counterfeit tickets, police say that a bigger problem these days is ticket agents who take money off music fans online with no intent of sending them any tickets, real or fake. Deputy Chief Superintendent Steve Head of the City of London Police told the BBC: "We believe that [posting tickets early] would stop a lot of people being the victims, because we'd be able to act on it quicker, convicting the kind of people we want to convict".