Over the bank holiday weekend, police made 118 arrests at the largest dance music festival in the UK.
164 offences were reported for a range of offences at the four-day Creamfields festival in the vicinity of Daresbury, Cheshire, which draws 70,000 visitors. Of these, 99 were drug-related.
The police operation was deemed “successful” by Cheshire Constabulary since there was less criminality than at the same event last year.
The number of offences or those involving violence were not broken out by the police force.
Among the performers during the four days were Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz, and Fatboy Slim.
Superintendent Sarah Heath, who led the policing operation, said: “Almost 70,000 people attend this year’s event and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the vast majority of festival-goers for their co-operation and their behaviour and for all the agencies that worked together so well throughout.
“We recognise that large events can have an increased prevalence of drugs, and by working with other agencies in the run-up and during the weekend we have sought to address this.
“There were drugs dogs at entrances and opportunities for illegal substances and weapons to be placed in surrender bins along with an extensive search process by security personnel at entrances to the site.
“A conscious effort was also made to target those who were intent on supplying illegal substances at the event – which accounted for more than half of the arrests made – while we made use of other options available to us, such as community resolutions, for lower level offences.
“In addition, this year we had an increased presence with officers from Project Servator in attendance. This team’s aim was to deter and detect a range of criminal activity while providing a reassuring presence for the public.”
Project Servator is a federal effort that collaborates with other law enforcement agencies, corporations, and the general public to safeguard citizens and make it more difficult for criminals and terrorists to conduct their operations.
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