Despite a 45,000 increase in attendees, there was a minimal increase in reported crime at the tenth Download music festival in Castle Donington, say Leicestershire Police. See the July print issue of Professional Security for more on the stewarding of the annual event by Showsec.
A total of 187 crimes have been reported to the police between Wednesday, June 6 and Monday, June 11 compared to 180 last year. There were, however, 45,000 extra people at this year’s event compared to last year but only seven more crimes were reported to the police.
The majority of offences were theft from tents – 113 this year compared to 88 last year – an increase of 28pc. Officers took 30 reports of theft from person compared to 43 in 2011 and there were two reports of theft from motor vehicle (compared to 14 last year). 30 people were arrested for a variety of offences. There were seven reports of general theft (compared to eight) and 19 people were dealt with for drug offences compared to 17 in 2011.
Between 95,000 and 100,000 people attended across the three days with 73,000 people camping across 13 campsites covering 115 acres of land. The population of the whole of North West Leicestershire is 88,000.
Inspector Chris Brown, Commander of North West Leicestershire local policing unit, said; “Given the significant increase in numbers at this year’s event we are really pleased that we didn’t see a significant increase in crime. Download is traditionally a low crime event and this year is no exception. The atmosphere throughout the festival was great despite some heavy weather and it passed off without major incident. I am really pleased with the hard work and dedication of the staff as they changed duties and made little complaint regarding the bad weather conditions.”
“Theft from tents is always our main concern and our crime prevention strategy involved high visibility and plain clothed officers patrolling the throughout the day and night which is no mean feat across 13 muddy campsites! We used our social media pages to get our crime prevention messages out to fans before they came to Download and police volunteers and officers continued to do that during the festival itself. The very wet weather on the first few days may also have played a part in helping to keep crime low.
“We have had lots of messages of thanks from Download fans on our Facebook page who appreciate our friendly policing style during the event which has been really pleasing. We are looking forward to working closely with Live Nation in the coming year on Download 2013!”
Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/downloadcops or on Twitter at @Downloadcops.
John Probyn, Chief Operating Officer of Live Nation, said; “We are committed to reducing crime at our festivals and keeping our customers safe and their belongings secure. We have achieved this through a close working relationship with Leicestershire Police throughout the planning and implementation of this festival.”
