Arrests down at music festival

The good vibes at the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival have apparently brought along good behavior, as arrests at the festival have plummeted, according to the Okeechobee Sheriff ’s Office.

Although the festival has drawn 6,000 more people than last year, Okeechobee County Sheriff Noel Stephen said the approximately 36,000 festivalgoers have been respectful.

“Everything seems to be going as smooth as we can get it,” Stephen said. “For this amount of people, it’s a pretty well-behaved crowd.”

Arrests have dropped to about six per day, compared to 20 last year, he said.

Stephen places some of the credit on what he describes as a stern position on narcotics last year and maintaining a high presence of law enforcement.

Along with black-tar heroin, Stephen says his deputies have found significant amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine. He has also seen a large amount of LSD, something deputies didn’t see last year, he said.

Deputies are also trying something new with amnesty boxes just outside the festival. They’re a series of boxes where illegal drugs and other items could be dropped in without penalty before deputies find them at the entrance.

“We’re having signs notifying the festival-goers that there are searches that are up ahead and the amnesty boxes are their last opportunity to freely dispose of their illegal narcotics before they reach our point,” Stephen said.

Narcotics have been collected from the boxes and more details about what was found will be announced early next week, he said.

Weapons have not been a problem with the festival, with the only incidents involving people with concealed carry firearms not being allowed to bring their guns into the festival. The amount of medical issues at the festival also remains low like last year, Stephen said.

“I’d say 98 percent of our attendance is 18- to 23-year-old college kids, and they’re just here to have a good time,” Stephen said. “We have an occasional thief. We have an occasional fight, but it’s very, very seldom with this many people, probably 99.9 percent are just having a good time.”