Cops praise good behaviour of most T in the Park fans

Jul 13 2010 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

Cops praise good behaviour of most T in the Park fans

TAYSIDE Police yesterday commended the behaviour of T in the Park revellers, reporting a significant drop in crime at this year’s event.

But, while most of the 85,000 music lovers attending each day kept the peace, a minority did the opposite, committing numerous minor and several serious crimes.

Police are investigating four sexual assaults and the attempted murder of two 20-year-old Fife men near a path linking the main arena and campsite at 11.50pm on Sunday night.

Both victims sustained abdominal wounds and are now in a serious but stable condition at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital. Police arrested and charged three men.

Although it is not known if he was aware of the disturbing incidents, US rapper Jay-Z, a main stage headliner on Sunday, wound up his set by urging fans to “stay safe”.

“I want y'all to do something for me: stay safe,” he told the huge crowd.

“We wanna be able to do this over and over and over again.”

By yesterday afternoon the arrest tally for the event was 64, compared to 2009’s final total of 59 and 69 arrests at 2008’s festival.

Police had recorded 229 crimes during the weekend, compared to 358 in 2009 – a 36 per cent reduction – and 432 in 2008. The detection rate for these incidents is presently at 63 per cent.

The majority of these lesser offences related to theft, drugs misuse and minor assault.

One prevalent crime was campsite thefts, with opportunistic crooks slicing open tents with blades to pilfer items inside.

On Friday night 24-year-old Stonehaven man David Catto collapsed on his way back to the campsite and, despite receiving CPR by two police officers, died at the scene.

Police said there were no apparent suspicious circumstances and a post mortem will be conducted this week to establish cause of death.

In a freak incident a 19-year-old man, who had shimmied up a flagpole during Kasbian’s main stage set on Sunday, fell to the ground just before 10pm and yesterday was still in a critical condition at Ninewells.

PA reporters covering the event reported the familiar spectacle of numerous revellers who had over-indulged in alcohol and the prevalent practice of punters lobbing plastic cups full of urine into crowds of spectators.

Event commander Chief Superintendent Craig Suttie described the policing strategy – involving 450 officers and 1600 security staff – as a significant success.

“Overall,” he said, “the atmosphere was brilliant and our planning paid dividends, with officers working in close liaison with security staff, enabling a very swift incident response.

“I am very encouraged by the drop in crime levels that we have experienced this year as well as the high detection rates.

“However, this should in no way distract us from a number of serious incidents that have occurred at the venue, some of which are still subject to investigation by our officers.”

Festival director Geoff Ellis said, while there was a good spirited atmosphere on-site, the number of “very unfortunate isolated incidents” could not be ignored.

“Despite these incidents, it’s encouraging that the overall level of crime is down on last year and that most fans are listening to the positive messages we put out about having a safe and healthy festival,” he said.