The presence of police and sniffer dogs is a common sight for festival-goers. Countless are the stories of drug blitzes and charges over disruptive behaviour at some of Australia’s biggest festivals.
But one controversial question that continues to hover is whether Police enforcement is doing more harm than good, raising concerns that festivals are unfairly targeted for drugs while the rate of tragic festival fatalities continues steadily.
While Police say they should not be held accountable for doing their job, one Byron Bay magistrate somewhat disagrees, erring on a critical view of the particular tactics used by Byron Bay Police at last year’s Splendour In The Grass.
According to The Northern Star, Magistrate David Heilpern has slammed police for wasting taxpayers’ money and dismissed a charge against a man pinched for possession of illicit substances at the Byron Bay festival last year.
In a rare example of a court official demonstrating clemency towards a festival-goer over the Police, the long-winded Splendour case reached its conclusion this month. “…the expense to the public of matters such as this is enormous.”
The case involves Mt Isa resident Shane Ellis, who was attending the second day of Splendour In The Grass (on 27th July 2013), which featured The National, Flume, Bernard Fanning, and Empire Of The Sun. Mr Ellis was making his way through the main gate of the North Byron Parklands site on the Saturday of the three-day camping festival when a drug detection Police unit spotted him acting suspiciously.
After spotting the officers and sniffer dogs, Mr Ellis allegedly turned around and attempted to get rid of drugs he was carrying with him when he was approached by Police. A search uncovered that Ellis’ bag contained five blue-coloured tablets of ecstasy in a plastic resealable bag secreted inside a sunglasses case.
Police issued Mr Ellis with a court attendance notice and submitted a guilty plea to possession of prohibited drugs when he eventually appeared before Magistrate Heilpern at the Byron Bay Court on 19th September.
But Heilpern criticised the Police’s tactics while throwing out the case and dismissing charges laid against Mr Ellis, who had no prior convictions in New South Wales or his native sate of Queensland.
“This was five tablets that the police valued at $100,” Mr Heilpern told the court, and simply ordered for the drugs to be destroyed.
The Magistrate was critical of the fact the case had stretched on for seven months and five adjournments, at cost of time and money to the court, despite Ellis’ initial guilty plea, emphasising “the expense to the public of matters such as this is enormous.”
In related news, rumours and lineup leaks for this year’s edition of Splendour In The Grass are starting to heat up, even with the Byron Bay festival still a full six months away.
Those rumoured for the Splendour In The Grass 2014 lineup include singer/model/actress Sky Ferreira and Norwegian-Bulgarian performer Mikhael Paskalev, plus a return visit from Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow and British electro trio London Grammar – who have both just concluded Australian tours and spoken about a return trip for the winter music festival.
Reunited hip hop Outkast are also rumoured to be headlining Splendour In The Grass 2014. Big Boi and André 3000 have confirmed they’ll be the “marquee act at over 40 festivals around the world” as part of a worldwide comeback tour which already has them locked in for US festivals Coachella and Firefly Music Festival (which both feature a bunch of Aussie bands).
