Major operation to police festival

A MAJOR police operation has swung into action as a crowd equal to the entire population of Harrogate gets ready to enjoy this year’s Leeds Festival.

The festival control room, based inside Wetherby Police Station, went live on Wednesday when CCTV footage from the site began streaming onto the big screens.

It is from there that Chief Superintendent Keith Gilert will oversee three simultaneous operations focusing on traffic, crime and public order.

“The planning, like most of these events, starts with the debrief of the previous year’s events,” he said. “It tends to happen in October time after the festival season is finished. It goes on from then throughout the rest of the year. What’s the generic threat assessment? Do we have any emerging trends around crime or traffic issues? How are going to start mitigating them?”

Police data shows 200 offences were recorded last year, with theft accounting for almost two thirds.

Chief Supt Gilert said: “If you pick up a small town-sized group of people and place them effectively in a fenced community, you’re looking to the issues akin to Leeds city centre on a Friday or Saturday night and placing it in a field in Bramham.

“Unfortunately, you will get people who will come here and make themselves vulnerable by drinking too much or taking drugs. People who are perhaps not used to being away from home.”

Others are camping for the first time and will leave their property in a tent which is not secure. Officers on the ground also work closely with Festival Republic’s security team.