Forums › Rave › Party Reports › Wise up! Old Bill (and "antis" getting smarter…)
Every so often, my local paper runs an article on the Police awards ceremony. This, as you may expect, is where the “British Bobby” receives commendations for various brave and helpful things for society.
Its usually things like talking down mental patients from jumping off car parks, helping the Fire Brigade to save old ladies and small lap-dogs from fires and road crashes, going to the local schools and telling kids to be careful when crossing the roads and not to nick sweeties from the corner shop.
Now I guess most of us don’t have a big problem with the above; for one thing cops are at least doing what they are supposed to be doing rather than hassling partygoers!
But one particular award caught my eye; a PC received an award for “assisting in migrating computer programmes to Windows XP!” It appeared from the article he was quite intelligent, to the point of knowing a fair amount about databases and even programming; it would not surprise me if he was a fairly new entrant to the force having previously been employed in the IT industry (where I live there have been loads of layoffs in the high-tech industries).
I think this incident does show that cops (UK ones at least) are getting smarter; not only do they know about boards like this, (as was shown a few weeks ago) they do make use of the surveillance information that has been gathered on the party scene for the last 12 years, and that this information is being transferred from the “legacy” (old) systems, shared across forces, and trawled for “cross links” between other local intelligence databases. IF anyone wants to know the level of surveillance, look at Tash Lodges site –
However; its not as bad though as many think; otherwise about 80% of the regular party people would be in prison!
Remember this: parties are not illegal. And in most parts of the UK, posession of small amounts of drugs for personal use is not seen as a major offence (there are way too many people doing it to be able to nick everybody!) What does appear to be going on (and this is from personal experience) is that the cops are using their surveillance info in a “smarter” way.
Those party people who don’t really do anything else bad are pretty much being left alone. Their movements to and from parties are monitored.
However, anyone who is involved in any other form of criminal activity is being “winkled out” from the party goers and dealt with accordingly.
Those who commit robberies or burglaries to get money for their involvement on the scene (and sadly, this has been an unwelcome facet of the UK club/party scene) are being targeted; and if they are involved with a party crew (even as hangers on) there is a big danger that cops being what they are, the whole crew becomes “of interest to the police” (I have personally seen this happen to crews I have been involved with). The “gangsta” lifestyle will only get you to two places; the cemetery or prison!
Damage to buildings is increasingly being monitored; many building owners in cities have complained bitterly to the police about their buildings being trashed – whilst most party venues are semi-derelict, on occasions crews pick a warehouse “between lets” which is actually being prepared for use by a business! Also noise nuisance – the cops actually only bother dealing with parties when locals complain; venues must be chosen carefully to avoid this. Some industrial estates are nearer residential areas than you may think, and even if heavy work is done there it stops when the business day is finished. However, there are often abandoned warehouses which were formerly used round the clock for heavy industry; these are quite deliberately situated as far away from housing as possible! (Beware of new housing estates though.)
I’ve left the big one till last- traffic offences. This may be due to the increasing trend to use traffic police to video cars coming out of party sites (their patrol cars have cameras in them); but if you are driving to a party without tax, license, insurance etc the cops will get you these days..
The positive thing is that 90% of people at parties are actually decent people – very socially and enviromentally concious; and unlicensed parties themselves are in fact far less of a social problem than the violence that occurs at licensed venues these days (and even the cops know this!). But just a few idiots can (and sadly do) bring things on top for a whole party scene…
Its worth realising that our scene is no longer “secret”. It has been going for 12 or more yers, and is now coming under increasing scrutiny and judgement by wider society. (The Police only basically do what Middle England tell them to…) Those who may oppose or hinder us are getting smart; its time for us to get smarter!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. If what you are saying is correct though, then our crew has nothing to worry about. Hope the old bill see it that way.
Plus we do try to use buildings that are completely trashed in the first place.
Originally posted by BioTech
I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. If what you are saying is correct though, then our crew has nothing to worry about. Hope the old bill see it that way.
in my experience the people who have been doing free parties in my area are basically the same lot who have done so for the last 5, 10 or even 12 years! The old bill know damn well who they are; they have their names, addresses, they know what cars and vans they drive and have spoken to them on more than one occasions.
Many of them are otherwise law abiding people, with good jobs. if they have any previous its usually a caution for minor posession, a small motoring offence or something insignificant. No crimes of violence or anything like that. They do not steal anything to fund parties; and in many cases fund them out of their own pockets. In fact even with motoring I find a lot of party people drive very carefully as they are always aware that traffic cops “take an interest” in them!
Not a lot of real crime there!
I don’t think the police particularly like the scene – its a grudging tolerance if anything; but a sideline of their surveillance is showing them that whilst there is a small minority of bad people on the scene, its a minor social “problem” compared to real issues such as gun crime and sexual violence (which is far more prevalent with licensed clubs!);
Whilst on occasions police overstep the mark following lobbying by rich land and property owners, for them and society as a whole there is no gain in going in hard on the free party scene as it would only screw up the lives of otherwise decent people and drive them towards crime and disaffection rather than prevent it..
woah – police know how to use computers now?
No shit.
errr… sorry, sounds a bit harsh, but you know what i mean. Police have been taking a hardline approach to partys in my area… they’re heal outside, as far away from residents as possible, and we always clean up in the morning… but the police have still started sending riot vans in to close things down. Even when one party was recently held on private land. Current legislation allows the police to take whatever action they want, whatever the circumstances. The only way to keep parties going would be serious escalation, which no-one wants (well… other than some of the cops).
wow nice post thanks for that, it was really interesting!
But i have to say, the police in the south are being pretty good to some of us party goers. Ok so they have shut down a few of the parties i have been at, but they did give us a few hours to “tune it down” which i think was pretty good of them. And even at one party they came over, checked on the number of people there, and even had a cupper with us!!!!
But saying that they have been utterly rude at other parties… so i guess it just depends on their mood… lets just all hope we only get visited by happy policemen!
yeah, i was at a party on private land in surrey recently that was shut down. sometimes the police just have no respect for those who just want to have a good time…
Yeah i have heard that the surrey police are being right bitchy! few friends have had parties shut down before they had even bloody started at 12!!!!! now thats just being mean!!!!!!!!
Star Thought of the Day!
Yeah a lot of ppl are saying that the scene is dying out and that the police are coming down on these parties. But as said earlier its the same ppl organising the parties today who were doing it years ago. It’s up to ppl like us to keep the scene alive. The police do like to spoil fun but if things are kept under certain rules and nobody is being bothered then they will just let it continue. In everywalk of life their is always somebody who will abuse what is before them, it is these kind of ppl that give the scene a very bad name 🙁
Originally posted by Pyromantic
Yeah a lot of ppl are saying that the scene is dying out and that the police are coming down on these parties. But as said earlier its the same ppl organising the parties today who were doing it years ago. It’s up to ppl like us to keep the scene alive. The police do like to spoil fun but if things are kept under certain rules and nobody is being bothered then they will just let it continue.
exactly.
However, those who say “the authorities are coming down hard” are correct to an extent – and there is a background to it..
there are actually more parties, and more rigs than there were even 5 or 10 years ago. Events also go on for longer; sometimes well into Sunday evening.
Therefore, the scene is being noticed by “normal” people, some are not liking it one bit and are asking the Police to “do something about it”.
The Police are, as others have said, only using existing powers to stop these events. They could legally send riot vans to disperse a party every time one kicks off – thats if they have the spare resources!; and people are complaining bitterly!
Even in the “middle of nowhere”, sound travels; and villages can be closer than you think.
unfortunately it is the case that outdoor parties can be a harder battle; many groups “claim” rights to use the outdoors and each faction fights its corner. Outdoor parties tread on the toes of rich influential “landowners”; like many other outdoor activities they are part of an age-old class struggle and are always a potential conflict point between locals and visitors.
But we can still be smarter. Even with extended CJA laws, the Police can only act when there is proven serious distress to the locals. This is hard to prove when the event is genuinely out of the way and cannot be heard; and 95% of the time an event some distance from a main city centre usually causes less overt disruption to residents than a normal nightclub event!
Even outdoors, the UK is bigger than many realise. This summers season still yielded parties for those who were able to travel. I don’t think the Welsh contingent here had too much trouble from the heddlu[1] for those parties way out by the mountains!
So one way to win is to be smart choosing venues – just keep ’em out of the way. Even in the city there is somewhere where people don’t normally live. As mentioned before, follow the trails and leftovers of heavy industry… but don’t set up next to a housing estate!
Even so you may come across a situation where a “good” venue is not readily available; but in the present climate Even if it means not doing a party that week or teaming up with the rig in the next city; its better than keeping neighbours awake and another negative story in the local rag.
Whilst I appreciate some may actually enjoy “keeping the lackeys of babylon awake”, and ending up in the papers like it or not the locals have the balance of power; – they are seen to be “working people being kept awake whilst others party”. (and is is morally right to keep normal people who may have families awake just for a night of hedonism?)
Whether that sort of local paper statement is true or not (and often the noise nuisance is grossly exaggerated by a couple of whingers), its stuff like this which often brings on the police crackdowns 🙁
And smashing up the venue, fighting at events (to the point the ambulance is deployed or neighbours call the cops), or making a racket outside houses will bring parties on top in your area and potentially get them stopped.
But use a little common sense and the party can be going on for years yet..
GL- Reading,UK
[1] Heddlu = Police (Welsh).
Info for those outside the UK: It is union state of 4 separate countries (including the north of Ireland), Wales and Scotland have their own languages and government assemblies…
ha sounds like my weekend all over
police helicopter arrives over the hill before the rigs even set up
an there where about 6 settin up at that point
they manage to get us to leave the site bout 4 30
an by six we at a new site an got like 3 rigs set up (lost quite a few in the transfer)
danced all day ^_^ then they sent like 3 riot vans down
an the rig we had followed half way across the country to get there was the only one still going
but we managed to pack it up ect without em robbin it
was still a good party though eventually
Be careful when you choose out of the way places – a lot of wilderness areas are nature reserves or SSI’s etc, and having parties here REALLY fucks up the image of the scene. We were getting away with quite a few nice little outdoor parties until some prats (mentioning no names, initials O.C…) set up a party in the only site for the bumblebee orchid in Kent and burnt and killed virtually the whole lot.
Ever since then the police have been coming down so hard, and what little tolerance we had from the papers and public has been destroyed. I love free parties, but I also work in environmental management of forests and meadows, and I can’t imagine how it feels to have years of work destroyed by the stupidity of a few people.
If you are going to have outdooor events in rural areas get a bloody good, up to date map and use it. If an area is ‘really beautiful’ it is probably protected. Some of the ‘Hippy-crit’ systems just don’t give a fuck, which kind of destroys their argument that they want to be out and close to nature…
Well said Natureboy. This is an important point that many overlook.
Incidentally I’ve also seen the papers make false claims about areas of SSI when people have partied areas that are definitely nothing of the sort.
Incidentally I’ve also seen the papers make false claims about areas of SSI when people have partied areas that are definitely nothing of the sort.
In most cases the truth is that a part of a large site is an SSSI – but not the entire site itself.
most modern SSSI sites are signposted; usually theres a big plinth with signs and a map (complete with grid references etc) which shows the SSSI boundaries and also tells you lots of interesting stuff about what wildlife/plants etc is in there, and how to approach the site in order to observe but also protect them. Of course common sense dictates that rigs and people set up as far away from this bit of the site as possible…
There are however some really tiny sites (like a single clearing in a wood) and the govt’s databases of these aren’t always as clear or accessible as they should be (being split between about 4 parts of Defra and local authorities).
I must say i tend to hate long threads, but I really enjoyed reading this one all the way threw and am def gonna pass this information onto my friends.
Thanks Alex:horay: :bounce_b:
Remember this: parties are not illegal. And in most parts of the UK, posession of small amounts of drugs for personal use is not seen as a major offence (there are way too many people doing it to be able to nick everybody!) What does appear to be going on (and this is from personal experience) is that the cops are using their surveillance info in a “smarter” way.
Those party people who don’t really do anything else bad are pretty much being left alone. Their movements to and from parties are monitored.
However, anyone who is involved in any other form of criminal activity is being “winkled out” from the party goers and dealt with accordingly.
Those who commit robberies or burglaries to get money for their involvement on the scene (and sadly, this has been an unwelcome facet of the UK club/party scene) are being targeted; and if they are involved with a party crew (even as hangers on) there is a big danger that cops being what they are, the whole crew becomes “of interest to the police” (I have personally seen this happen to crews I have been involved with). The “gangsta” lifestyle will only get you to two places; the cemetery or prison!
Well saidraaa :group_hug :love:
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Forums › Rave › Party Reports › Wise up! Old Bill (and "antis" getting smarter…)
