Clearly, the aim was not safety. What is safe about forcing thousands of tired, dehydrated people to sit in cars in a dusty paddock for up to seven hours, none of whom had any warning of this madness and did not pack food and drink for New Years Day? In terms of road safety it is too, ridiculous. I have never seen such a situation of mass road rage and can not believe more people didn’t snap. The police created a situation where thousands of drivers are on the same road angry, tired, late, dehydrated, every scrap of good-will from the Festival eroded.
Jose Cojonudo
Falls defined by police intimidation
We left Hobart at about 11am, five excited young men heading for the Falls Festival. The car is packed to the brim and we’re already joking about how difficult it will be to re-pack after the expected search for alcohol on the way in. I haven’t been to Falls for a few years but remember the search and understand it. No one wants glass everywhere at a festival and the event needs to also make money from the selling of drinks. Fair enough.
Entry
This year however, there was shock on most faces as they made it to the check point. There were police (plain clothes and uniform everywhere) and at least one sniffer dog. If only they’d had so many doing breath-testing on the way out!
Five very nervous guys clambered out of the car, whilst the event volunteers began searching for alcohol. My four friends left their mobiles on the passenger seat of the car. Bad move.
Whilst the search for alcohol took about ten minutes, we were there for about half an hour, as two plain clothes officers went through the messages on my friends mobiles and made notes. They didn’t say hello, let alone explain what they were doing. We were all too intimidated to ask about the legalities of going through someone’s personal messages without asking permission and without that owner having done anything wrong, other than attend a music festival. If anyone knows I would be interested. One friend was asked for names and addresses of people on his phone.
Finally, after half an hour of intimidation we were allowed to go in. After a couple hours we all managed to relax and the inappropriate police behaviour was forgotton for two days. Until it came to leaving.
Exit
We thought ourselves lucky, arriving late and having a camp site fairly near the entrance, we should be able to make a quick exit. This is what most want to do after a very tiring couple of days. No such luck.
It took us an hour and a half to move 30 metres in the car with no explanation as to what was causing the chaos. Finally a event volunteer explained that the police had decided to breath-test every driver without co-ordinating at all with event organisers. Even the shuttle bus driver was breath-tested everytime she left!
What was the aim of aggressively targetting a demographic like this? Did they think there may be “eco-terrorists” looking for a plane to hijack at the Festival?
Clearly, the aim was not safety. What is safe about forcing thousands of tired, dehydrated people to sit in cars in a dusty paddock for up to seven hours, none of whom had any warning of this madness and did not pack food and drink for New Years Day? In terms of road safety it is too, ridiculous. I have never seen such a situation of mass road rage and can not believe more people didn’t snap. The police created a situation where thousands of drivers are on the same road angry, tired, late, dehydrated, every scrap of good-will from the Festival eroded.
They claim that catching 30 or so people above the limit and one positve drug test justifies their madness. Bullshit.
Firstly, they seriously impaired thousands of drivers New Years Day.
Secondly, if police tested every car leaving Wrest Point Casino until they reached the 7000 or so tested at Falls I bet they would get just as many positive results. But they would never do this, they would be victimising a different demographic.
They also claim a sound result in catching people speeding just outside Sorell. The camera was placed just after the speed limit changed from 80 to 60kph and well before you reach the built up area of Sorell. Put the camera in a safe revenue-raising spot like this and wait for the same volume of traffic to pass and I’m sure you would catch a similar volume anytime. Let alone when you’ve just made 16,000 people pissed off and late.
To do something like the police have done the Falls Festival this year beggars believe. Whether you belive as I do that it is a gross invasion of privacy and an inappropriate intimidation of a certain demographic or not, to carry out such an operation and be incapable of doing it in a safe, respectful and effective manner and not co-ordinate it with event organisers is appalling. This event will have back-fired on police as thousands of people have lost a lot of respect for both their ability and their motives.
The Festival, which was as good and well organised as ever has been seriously damaged by the arrogance and stupidity of our police. Police are meant to protect citizens’ rights and improve dangerous traffic situations, with regard to the Falls Festival they have achieved the opposite.
Jose Cojonudo would like to thank Festival organisers for still managing to stage another fantastic festival and hopes not too many people will be put off going next year.
