Glastonbury Festival Police

I went to Glastonbury Festival by accident. It was nineteen eighty something. Things are a little blurry around that time. I'd been asked if I was going to Pilton Festival. Not knowing it was a local name for Glastonbury Festival I innocently asked for directions and set off walking. I'll leave it to your imagination how I felt when I came over the hill and saw the festival site spread out before me.

It was early in the morning, a few days before the start of the festival. The fence wasn't finished so I walked in. I've never paid for a festival and I never will. No one charges me anything for walking anywhere on my beautiful Isle of Albion.

Once the festival was in progress there were a few police evident, walking around looking as if they expected to get jumped at any moment. I was told it was the first time police had been on site and that they were specially chosen Christian police. This may have been true as they spent much of the time huddled in a group on the Christian field.

From that state of paranoid hypervigilance to this. www.mirror.co.uk...

So what I'm asking is...

Can we use the evolution of Glastonbury Festival Police as an example of how policing has integrated with society over recent years?

a reply to: Kester

If it had been the US those police would likely be putting bullets in to the man asleep in the chair cause of "public safety" and small penises

a reply to: crazyewok

Yes. I just wrote a whole thread on that after being told earlier today, "I'm never going back there. Our children couldn't grow up safely because of the police." It left me with such a feeling of emptiness I deleted the whole thread and looked for a more positive story.

Thank you for answering in this way. That is exactly what I really wanted to say.

a reply to: Kester

Aside from some illegal raves I've been at, I have found UK police to be mostly friendly and a good laugh.

Last time I went to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice, a couple of years ago, I joked to the coppers at the final security gate that the only substances I had on me were in my bloodstream, to which the older Sgt laughed back "Drugs are legal tonight, we only care about public safety and protecting the stones".

That single comment pretty much sums up my experience of police, certainly in the Devon & Cornwall constabulary I live in. If you are not a prick to them they are usually really friendly, even when arresting you.
They are well chilled where I am, turn a blind eye to all sorts except 'proper' crime, and make good decisions with young people. My son, and my friends kids have been taken home a few times to allow parental justice instead of making convicted criminals out of stupid youthful mistakes.

I like policing by consent, and I like police being outnumbered and mostly only carrying batons.
Less than one in ten have a tazer here, they even ask us citizens for help if it kicks off.
I can't imagine what it must be like living in cities which appear to be like police states as I read sadly too often on ATS.

a reply to: grainofsand

It's true. As much as I hate to admit it.... Talk to the police anywhere in the UK and 99% of the time you'll get a polite response.

I had my bike knicked once and the copper was brilliant. He brought it back to my house, in his own car, after he had finished work. He bent the law to see justice prevail and he didn't judge me once.

a reply to: grainofsand

2:15 Barely connected. I'd call that a loving kick. They're just big, loved up dudes with a strange dress code.

You want them off site so you let the tyres down? That guy's two tabs short of the full trip.

a reply to: grainofsand

Same here even in medway.

Long as your not being a prick they let you be.
My encounters have generally been professional to freindly.

a reply to: and14263

I bet most of us Brits have more stories of decent coppers than bad ones.
A few years ago a female neighbour of mine was being stalked by her ex. He had previously beaten her pretty badly before she ditched him but was too scared to testify against him in court so got away with it. I saw her face, I wanted to do the same to him.

Anyway, long story short, he would sit in his car and watch her house, all times day and night, even one time left a cardboard box with a kitchen knife sticking out of it in her front yard, she was terrified and had my mobile number because she knew I'd be quicker than the police being next door.

I contacted the police myself, making my own complaint that he had 'threatened' me. The cop who came round was the same one who dealt with her after the original beating. I asked him straight where I stand with 'reasonable force' and he looked honestly at me and said [paraphrase] "You are here all the time, we simply can't be, the guy is a bastard who deserves a beating but there is nothing I can do as a police officer, I have to follow the law or it means nothing, but I can tell you for sure that if we are called to deal with you involved in a physical violence with him then you will NOT be arrested or charged. Just don't do anything seriously silly like stamp on his head when you've done him.".

Yep, I'm not ashamed to admit I love living in the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary area.
Glastonbury is covered by Avon and Somerset Constabulary and they are pretty chilled as well.

...police are just referees in my head, annoying sometimes but necessary to play the game.

a reply to: and14263

In Flushing, Falmouth, I kicked in the door of an atrociously parked car. Drunk driver. Posh girl. Yachtie. Single handed across the pond type yachtie. Full of herself.

I'd actually mistaken her car for one belonging to a local hooligan. Very embarrassing.

In spite of being a drunk driver/parker, she called out the thin blue line. Falmouth cops are on another planet altogether. www.youtube.com...

There's only one road into Flushing. When I saw the cop drive in I knew he'd come for me. I got ready expecting him to be at the door any moment. Time went by. Eventually, much later, he appeared.

He'd fixed the car door before coming to see me. I still feel humbled.

a reply to: Kester

Ah I love Falmouth, only ever looked across the water to Flushing though.
Even our biggest city down here, Plymouth, massive Naval base, military and civilian police on streets, they're all pretty chilled as well...but the MP's are perhaps only more chilled to you if you are a civvy in my experience.

I can pull out bad cop stories as well though, but all of them involve me being a prick at the time unfortunately.

a reply to: grainofsand

I used to kayak across for the shopping. There was a little fruit and veg shop in St George's Arcade that opened at eight. One morning I drew money out of the machine outside, bought two bananas for breakfast, and stuck them in my pocket. As I walked out I stopped at the top of the steps and decided to eat one of the bananas there since it was early and there was hardly anyone about. A smug looking very expensively dressed woman was walking up the steps with her more plainly dressed man beside her. I judgementally gave her a disapproving look and her husband glanced across with a look that said 'why do you have to dress for attention?'

Simultaneously I was drawing a banana from my pocket. With a click of surprise I saw the two beefy, moustached men behind the couple drawing guns out of shoulder holsters. They saw the banana and quickly re holstered their guns without the couple being aware of anything. They all walked past while I tried to make sense of what I'd just seen. At first I was going to shout at them. Then I thought of rushing off to find a policeman. Within half a minute I'd decided to just let it be since no harm was done and she was clearly a major celebrity of some sort who could at least justify having protection.

I can see the whole image now. Her face was turned down slightly as she walked up the steps but I knew there was something familiar about her.

Much, much later it suddenly dawned on me. It was Madonna. She's been visiting Falmouth for years.

I don't know how Falmouth police would have handled that if it had come to the worst and it's probably just as well it didn't land on their plate.

a reply to: Kester

Cool story
For all we know the guards could have been Met police which she paid for out of her own pocket, they do VIP protection all the time. Falmouth cops would have known for sure and just taken the statements afterwards.
The details around the budget of all that are totally secret for 'security' reasons though so I'm only throwing it out as a just off to bed thought.
I have to say it wouldn't surprise me.

a reply to: grainofsand

I'm just glad I didn't make it into the top ten stupidest gravestones. 'Shot for pointing a banana at Madonna.'

I guess cops shaving their heads is an international phenomenon? OR are they all just going bald for some reason?

I have worked at dozens of music festivals and have never seen the police step out of line or act in a way that could be deemed inapropriate.

The poor guys spend a lot of there time dealing with drunken teenage girls crying because they have lost there friends.

A few years ago I had a job that involved walking the same 150 foot stretch back and forth all day. There was an undercover cop stood there keeping an eye out for any wrong uns.

I knew he was undercover becuase he was at least 25 years older than anyone else, his jeans were unfashionable, he was wearing a brand new Nirvana tshirt(in 2011) and he was wearing nicely polished shoes.

As I walked past I raised a hand and said in a loud clear voice "Afternoon constable!" everyone around looked and scarpered but in fairness he did wave back. Five minutes later on the way back I did the same thing and again he waved back politley.

I must have done this to the poor guy about 30 times before he got annoyed and asked me nicley if I would pack it in as I was making him look like an idiot.

a reply to: nonspecific

Haha, always good to tease an undercover copper when you spot one. It's cool as well because they mostly don't beat us to a pulp or shoot us because we are 'not showing enough respect' or whatever.
I'd hate to live in a city/nation like that.

Had my own interaction with a copper while working today. The site I've been on and off for the last few months is in a street with a couple of properties where sex and heroin are being sold. Everyone knows it, but none of us working there give much of a toss, we're all active manual workers with hammers, knifes and nailguns on our toolbelts so the guys in charge of that illegal trade sheepishly walk past and don't try their silly big-man intimidation with us. Gotta lock the vans though, robbing bastards as they are.

Anyway, this afternoon, one small time heroin dealer robbed the other in the street, kicked his door in and escaped with money and drugs. I was chuckling watching it, scumbag thieves robbing from each other.
What shocked me though was the 'victims' phoned the police, so say an hour later, a cop turned up and asked what we had seen.
I laughed that all I saw was smackhead thieves robbing off other smackhead thieves and I'm amazed that they are wasting your time dealing with this when you could be dealing with smackhead thieves who are stealing off innocent 'normal' people.
He laughed back, yep, I have to do my job when a complaint is made, so I'm investigating what happened and I'll write a report, but all of them are a bunch of #s so I don't really give a #.

Some folk may cry foul of personal opinion preventing impartial policing, I call it the real world with human beings carrying out that policing role while under-resourced.
The cop was just happy to have a few decent hard working blokes supporting him in his thoughts of how ridiculous it is to be the referee in disputes between low level thieves and drug dealers.
I like the community policing in my area.

originally posted by: nonspecific

I must have done this to the poor guy about 30 times before he got annoyed and asked me nicley if I would pack it in as I was making him look like an idiot.

In a certain "free" country they would shoot you for being a national security risk or something

I've been to quite a few festivals and raves etc over the years, been too long since the last time which is something I hope to address shortly, and I've got to say the police tend to take a common sense approach.
As long as people are discreet about what they are doing and aren't being a major pain in the arse they've always taken a back seat and allowed people to enjoy themselves in whatever way people see fit.

In fact I'd go as far to say they are a credit to their profession and show a remarkable amount of leniency and tolerance and try to get in the spirit of things as much as their job can allow.

I sincerely hope that's an approach that still prevails today.