THIS year’s Jersey Live music festival will have more police officers than attended Glastonbury – even though the UK festival was 17 times the size.
Scores of officers, both States and honorary, will join stewards and security guards for the event today and tomorrow. Specially erected CCTV cameras will also be filming the crowds, as they did last year.
Up to 10,000 people are expected to attend the Royal Jersey Showground for the event, compared to the 177,000 who attended Glastonbury this year. And the organisers have said that Jersey Live continues to be the ‘most policed event within the country’ after being made to contribute towards the cost of paying police overtime.
Last year officers from outside the Island were brought over, which led to a number of the high-profile bands appearing criticising the size of the police presence.
Jersey Live organiser and founder Warren Le Sueur said: ‘We don’t know if there is a need for the CCTV. The States police carried out the installation. From a crowd point of view, there are no statistics to suggest that anything will happen, but the cameras are a requirement of the police.
‘We also have to make a donation to the police for overtime costs. I wonder where the balance is for an Island that doesn’t boast high crime statistics but still has a high police presence for this event.’
The police made ten drugs and drink and disorderly arrests at last year’s event.
Pictured: Police at last year’s Jersey Live festival
Article posted on 30th August, 2008 - 10.00am
12 Article Comments
utterly ridiculous, who’s making the decisions to grossly over police this event? since when did listening to music require all this fuss.it just goes to show you that the police have nothing better to do with their time.
What a ridiculous waste of manpower, it’s a music festival, not a political rally! why the big brother CCTV? Jersey really is a police state.
Warren Le Sueur has no cause for complaint. He is still making a lot of money.
The Police have stoped a lot of drugs reaching the venue over the last few days. The over reaction by the police is based on ‘Prevention is better than Cure’ and i for one will feel safe in the knowledge i can visit Jersey Live and not worry about any crime. As a taxpayer it is right Mr Le Sueur pay for this service and should support the police in their actions.
It looks like the island doesn’t want young people to enjoy themselves. How can the police numbers be more than was needed to police 177,000 at Glastonbury? Who is responsable for sanctioning this and the “overtime” CCTV, sniffer dogs, overpolicing which usually instigates trouble ? Hope the weather stays dry for a peacefull weekend.
How dare the JEP print such rubbish.
According to the Avon and Somerset police, the total bill for policing the Glastonbury festival came to £1.7m. They setup 3 temporary police stations and take over a nearby showground as an operations centre.
If you look at the avon and somerset police website they state the festival is the largest policing operation in the South West. They use CCTV, in fact the organisers have to pay to have over 50 cameras installed in just one small town nearby…
Don’t believe the hype coming from certain organisers!
I was ay JL yesterday (Sat) all day, and was y impressed by the very low key policing policy.
VALE EARTH FAIR GUERNSEY 2000 PEOPLE 5 POLICEMEN NO TROUBLE ENOUGH SAID
Although there were more police than necessary I think the event went well and I didn’t see any trouble personally. Being young, I felt pretty safe at the event although the front crowd of people at the main stage was a very dangerous place to be and more enforcements should have been used to space out the crowd. I managed to get smacked to the ground by a member of the crowd and when I fell to the ground i struggled to get back up on my own. Id also like to say thank you to the young girl who helped me get my way out the crowd and get a paramedic to make sure I was ok. Bit of a frightening experience to be honest! Lets hope its not so bad next year. Apart from that, a top night and great performance from Prodigy.
The police need to learn that JL is a music festival…they ruin the atmosphere. Yes there should be some police present, but the amount there was just plain SILLY!!!
Hey, there were few police at the Gorey Fete and look what happened, lots of drunk teenagers, one of whom (13/14) was making it clear she was available to cater to men’s sexual needs!
You have a serious problem with your teenagers, and if your teenagers can’t enjoy themselves because police are around then they’re clearly only happy carrying out illegal activities. I can enjoy myself quite happily even if there are police in the vicinity, but then I’m not drunk underage, having sex underage, doing drugs, causing a public nuisance or vandalising property!
If it is a on a general point of principle that Warren le Sueur must pay towards the policing of the event, on the basis that he is simply running a business and making money from it, I have no problem. However, the principle must operate fairly and across the board.
Are event organisers of the recent Seaside and Maritime festivals or the Gorey fete also asked to pay towards the policing?
These events, and other similar ones, are entirely commercially based ventures with a lot of money being made, nothing more. If they do contribute towards the extra police manpower required then I again have no problem. But do they?
Can anyone throw any light on it or is it just Mr Le Sueur who has to cough up?
Maybe Guernsey doesn’t have as many brats as Jersey? Just a thought.
Your kids are an embarrassment and far worse (overall) than kids in many of the UK’s inner city areas.
Your ‘parents’ seem to have a complete inability to actually parent (buying them things does not count, try actually loving them for once) and would clearly rather their kids were out on the street getting drunk and having sex than in their own house getting under their feet.
Might I suggest that Jersey parents are actually forced (legally) to take responsibility for their brats and the problem you have might be solved.