Police: Too costly to check drug bins
POLICE have highlighted cost as a reason why the contents of ‘surrender bins’ where revellers heading into Creamfields can place drugs and weapons are not formally examined.
The Weekly News submitted a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to Cheshire police asking about the illegal items handed over to officers before entering the dance music festival over the last three years.
The force was asked to clarify the specific drug types and weapons deposited at the Daresbury festival from 2014 to 2016.
However, the response said the bins’ contents are not recorded on police systems and are disposed of.
Detective Constable Jamie Thompson, Cheshire police’s drug expert, told the Weekly News that the contents of the bins are not formally examined following Creamfields as it would have ‘significant cost implications’ and there is ‘no evidential need’ to do so.
He said this year’s haul of nearly 11 bin bags worth of drugs is potentially the largest amount seized at the festival, the most common type being Class A.
He said: “However, I do personally review the contents of the bins to ensure that there is nothing untoward inside and that any weapons are disposed of in the safest way.
“This year there was almost 11 bin bags worth of drugs deposited in the bins at the entrances to the site.
“I have worked at the event for the past 10 years and I believe this is the largest quantity of drugs surrendered – the most common items being Class A drugs.
“In the run-up to Creamfields we ran a campaign to warn those attending of the risks of taking drugs to the event and to educate them about the consequences of their actions.
“I believe that many festival goers could see the extent of the policing operation and decided it wasn’t worth the risk – so surrendered drugs before it was too late.
“This is exactly the message that we wanted to get across.
“While we do not formally review the contents of the surrender bins, we do provide them to a company for research purposes.”
Arrests at the festival have risen annually over the last four years and the majority have been for drug offences.
In 2014, 66 people were arrested over the weekend, a figure which increased to 76 the following year.
Last year the number jumped up to 137 arrests while this year’s figure stood at 153 by the time the festival ended, 47 of which took place on the first day alone.
After the event last month, Inspector Mark Gammage who led the planning of the policing operation at Creamfields said officers were ‘encouraged’ that surrender bins were filled more than in previous years. ●