Weekend RAVE limited to 24 'minor' arrests
SAN BERNARDINO – Twenty-four arrests were made over the weekend at a Rave held at the National Orange Show Events Center, but police said the electronic music festival went very well.
“They had sold out attendance,” said police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Waters on Monday, “at 45,000. We had very few crime issues.”
She said undercover narcotics officers, however, made 24 arrests for sales, mostly of ecstasy.
There were several complaints by area residents about the noise, Waters acknowledged. Residents in nearby cities Colton and Grand Terrace, approximately five to ten miles away, could hear the noise.
Promotional poster for the event
“This type of music is particularly loud,” Waters said. “The promoter is working with us to try to figure out ways to mitigate that problem in the future.”
Waters said the promoter hired over 700 security guards working inside and outside the facility. “We had our officers on foot patrols, horseback and motors. The motors work the streets surrounding the venue, the horses are inside and outside (the fenced venue) and the foot officers work mostly inside.
“We handle any crime issues that cannot be resolved by security. There were only a handful of arrests at this concert other than the narcotics arrests.”
None, she said, were major. The concert promoter paid for all police services, said Waters. The event lasted from 4 p.m. on Saturday through 2 a.m. on Sunday. Dubbed “Escape from Wonderland,” the Halloween-themed event combined music at five sound stages with carnival-styled rides and haunted houses, among other activities.
Ecstasy is a euphoria-style drug that is considered a stimulant and hallucinogen.
Past raves have resulted in serious arrests, but police have sought to deal with those issues with promoters in order to curtail violent and drug-related offenses.
Read More:
LA Times: Noisy rave draws citation for San Bernardino events center
Redlands Daily Facts: Few arrests reported as 45,000 crowd the National Orange Show for rave
