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Festival Republic host crime conference
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 11 December 2009
Festival Republic have announced they will stage a conference to look at combating crime at music festivals. It will be the second Crime At Major UK Music Festivals Conference organised by the Reading and Latitude promoters, the first one having taken place back in May. Edition number two will take place in Reading on 25 Jan.
The aim of the conference is to coordinate security activity at all of the festivals promoted and managed by Festival Republic – which includes the Reading, Leeds, Glastonbury, Big Chill and Latitude festivals – and beyond. The company says they have invited reps and security heads from a number of other festivals, including Bestival, Rock Ness, Isle Of Wight, Download, V, Glade, Secret Garden, Electric Picnic and T In The Park. Reps from police forces in areas where those events take place will also be invited.
All this networking is based on the theory that there are a number of thieving gangs who operate at various festivals, and there is a better chance of stopping them if festival promoters, security firms and police forces all collaborate. It’s the same logic that led to the Association Of Independent Festivals launching its previously reported Security Task Force, which AIF say helped significantly cut crime levels at participating festivals.
Talking about his crime conference, Festival Republic top man Melvin Benn is quoted by Music Week as follows: “The inaugural conference in May was a real success and the joint approaches to sharing intelligence throughout the 2009 festival season appear to have paid off. This follow-up conference will be an opportunity for promoters, security agencies and police forces to review our progress and take the next steps to further develop our intelligence sharing systems so we can make greater efforts in 2010 and beyond. Organised crime is a real concern for the festival industry and it’s crucial that we keep the momentum going on these initiatives”.
