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The Big Day Out 2006- organisers issue warning

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Bent Mk2

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Oct 14, 2005
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An important anouncement from the BDO organisers

The organisers of the Big Day Out music festival have released a statement about the possible appearance of sniffer dogs at the shows around the country.

It reads:

We regret to advise that it looks likely that the police drug detection dogs will be back at the entrance to the Sydney BDO this year, as well as making their debut at the Melbourne event and other states.

For the record, the Big Day Out does not condone drug use at our events.

Likewise we don’t support the use of sniffer dogs at the entrance of the Big Day Out event as we are hoping to give patrons a joyous experience and believe this initiative clearly discriminates against them as a group.

We especially do not condone strip searches based on a sniffer dog methodology which can be inaccurate and possibly lead to incorrect identification of innocent patrons.

In the unlikely
event you are mistakenly searched, please keep calm but register your complaint ASAP to the appropriate organisation.

Above all, don’t let them ruin your day.

If you're under 18 and require legal advice, you can call the 24-hour Legal Aid Hotline on 1800-10-18-10.

If you're 18 or over, call a lawyer or LawAccess (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) on 1300-888-529.

The Big Day Out Organisers

The Big Day Out happens on these dates in these cities:

Auckland - Friday January 20th Auckland Ericsson Stadium
Gold Coast - Sunday January 22nd Gold Coast Parklands ***sold out***
Sydney - Thursday January 26th Sydney Showground ***sold out***
Melbourne - Sunday January 29th Princes Park South
Adelaide - Friday February 3rd Royal Adelaide Showground
Perth - Sunday February 5th Claremont Showground
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Thanks for the update Bent Mk2.

I've also heard through a non-confirmable source that ion mobility scanners will also be used. If this is correct, these hand-held devices may be employed to confirm, or support dog detection methods, or they may be programmed to find drugs the sniffer dogs are not trained for.

Either way, no matter what your choice of poison, please think very carfully before deciding it's safe to take illict compounds into the event.
 
I've also heard through a non-confirmable source that ion mobility scanners will also be used. If this is correct, these hand-held devices may be employed to confirm, or support dog detection methods, or they may be programmed to find drugs the sniffer dogs are not trained for.
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Hey Phase could you please expand on what you know about this technology. (I'm not accutally going to Big Day Out but I am interested in this Ion scanner) How does it work? For example a policeman catches a person with an unknown substance from a sniffer dog do they then put a sample of the unknown substance into the ion scanner to get a readout of the substance? Or are we taking about some kind of new technology where you have like a moble metal detector you wave over a person and it detects cirtain substances ect?!?
 
So I suppose I have to assume that "other states" = QLD :\
 
Basically, Ion mobility scanners work by sucking up the air around the object or person and analyzing for contraband or whatever the machine is programmed to detect. The handheld ones (see Mac's post here) look like small handheld portable vacuum cleaners. Any chemical particles sucked up are ionised and the mass/ charge of the chemical components measured. These are very sensitive devices and will usually detect tiny amounts.

Whether the cops would use them to initially identify, or to pinpoint the likely location of the drugs, is hard to say. As could be imagined, if there is a problem with serching someone thoroughly, it would tend to side step the current objections based upon indignity and invasion of personal space. It would be a lot easier to just run the machine over the mid body area and say:
"Excuse me Sir, if I could just get you to empty your right trouser pocket please..."

I've yet to play with one of these little beauties, but I think I might be requiring one in the near future so as to determine levels of pesticide residues - something recieving a bit of attention atm.
 
great so everyone whos dumping are gonna dump all their stuff before they get in there.

heaps safe.
 
i love living in adelaide sooo much, we'll get 20ish officers wandering the place as a presence, about the same undercovers just keeping an eye on things and a quick frisk from a security gaurd on the way in as a window dressing, i wonder if the S.A. police even have a ion detector:) they cant even figure out how there going to impliment the new drug driving laws this year, i think the tender is still open overseas casue they don't want the same problems that melbourne had.
 
pfft! it's just the same as last year. everyone was freaking out but when the actual day came around, if you had common sense it was nothing to worry about.

i seriously doubt the police will be using ion detectors. just the sheer logostics of keeping massive crowds moving into the venue would suggest that it won't happen. last year security barely glanced into people's bags and when they did, they were on the look out for weapons or bottles of alcohol more than anything else.

IMHO someone would have to be seriously unlucky (or just stupid) to get done.

For last year's event in Sydney, it appearned all the dogs were outside the venue - i didn't see one inside all day/night.

funniest thing was once we got in, we did the mandatory bathroom stop and the floor of all the cubicles was littered with bags and packing tape. seems like everyone taped things to themselves before the 'bali 9' made it cool.

My advice? Don't attempt to take in any 'green'. It looked like most people that got done last year weren't done for pills/powder, but rather dope.

take care and have fun.
 
pfft! it's just the same as last year
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I think that's a bit of a blasé attitude what with what's brewing on the political front atm regarding drug penalties and proposed law changes. Gold Coast BDO has seen a much stronger police presence over the past 3 years.

Whether or not police have scanners, or will simply be there in numbers, depends solely on the orders of the day. As drug use in general has been media highlighted over much of this year, I'd say be very cautious, and think twice about taking stuff in with you. Two years ago at the GC BDO, even a drug free, volunteer worker was searched.
 
i say call for a boycott of any event which has sniffer dogs or any public place etc kind of like the meth boycott but involving events in which sniffer dogs attent.
 
mute said:
i say call for a boycott of any event which has sniffer dogs or any public place etc kind of like the meth boycott but involving events in which sniffer dogs attent.
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My first impulse is to say that such a move would be extremely unfair on event organisers. The promoters of the Big Day Out have consistently over the last few years voiced their objections to the use of sniffer dogs at their parties in Sydney and the Gold Coast.

These objections have been vocal and shared with the media.

Regardless of how loudly they do or don't complain, it's fair to say that no promoter of any large festival in this country wants the sort of police attention that comes with sniffer dogs.

I know plenty of promoters in the dance music industry in this country who dislike the use of sniffer dogs at their events, but have to restrain their comments in light of the bad reputation that such events are stigmatised with.

If promoters really were "just rolling over and taking it", I think we'd see the dogs being taken a lot further than just the entrance gates.

I'd suggest something more constructive is write to one of the two main papers in your city expressing your disgust and outrage at being treated like a criminal simply for being young and wanting to go to a music festival.
 
^^^i dont know, I've seen the dogs at some events been taken alot further than the gates. I doubt that will happen at the bdo tho.
 
mute said:
i say call for a boycott of any event which has sniffer dogs or any public place etc kind of like the meth boycott but involving events in which sniffer dogs attent.
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no.
 
I'm pleased to report there was no large police presence on the GC. A good friend who was staying with a mate in the police force explained that the newspapaer, radio and TV announcements were done to scare people into leaving their drugs at home. This was later confirmed by BDO organisers, who had been required to play along with the police warnings.

While Crowd Care workers described the day as being less demanding than previous years ( less interventions), a couple of cases were reported where people in fear of a canine encounter had swallowed their whole stash before entering. Obviously this fear related response was potentially dangerous. But thankfully, nothing serious resulted.

So, was the noticeable reduction in drug related interventions due to the police warnings? Or was the event line up mostly responsible? Or perhaps it was that most people taking drugs were doing it in a safer manner? Or was it just good luck? Probably a mixture of all these things.

To wrap up; while police presence at the GC was minimal to what was expected, it's important not to assume it will be the same in other states. In that regard, at this stage there's no reason to expect Sydney will be any different to last year.
 
So a side question - do dogs (or the threat of dogs) work? Has anyone changed their habits?

I know in the case of this year's BDO I had planned to have some fun, but in all honesty I'm really very seriously considering just getting drunk - to me getting busted isn't worth the risk...

But judging by what phase_dancer has said...is it seriously a risk?
 
the dogs work.
I sat on the steps of [Venue name] last year and watched a dog with its accompanying handler run into a crowd of people and single out some poor fool.

If you're going to try getting them in, keep the drugs youre carrying as far away from the dog as possible. ie. not in your shoe. Try taping to the inner section of your upper bicep, perhaps the inside of your cap? The lining bit. They never pat there, and dogs tend not to be 5 and a bit foot tall. If you have an afro, you could probably hide your gear in there too.

Oh, and re: the ion scanners, they'll pick up explosives, so if they're present, don't take any of those in there. They'll be much harsher than if you had drugs.

good luck
 
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There's plenty of previous discussion about hiding stuff from sniffer dogs in the following threads if anyone is about to ask about hiding stuff, look here first:

Concealing Pills From Dogs
Sniffer Dogs at upcoming rave

MoeBro said:
the dogs work.
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To some extent yes, but they're far from infallible and sometimes I think they're more useful to police simply as a pretext to search individuals. At a crowd outside the gates to a major dance party, you could expect as many as one in two people might be carrying illegal drugs on them. It's not hard to get a decent strike rate using sniffer dogs with coverage like that.

Also, it would make sense that those who have been around, smoking or carrying pot are the ones most likely to be singled out by the dogs.

Overwhelmingly the results from major parties show the majority of people caught with drugs are carrying personal amounts and usually receive a warning/fine.

If it was a simple equation of "more drugs = more likely to be caught by dogs", it'd be the other way around and those getting busted would be the people carrying forty pills instead of four on them.

MoeBro said:
Oh, and re: the ion scanners, they'll pick up explosives, so if they're present, don't take any of those in there. They'll be much harsher than if you had drugs.
Click to expand...

LOL :)

They need to start putting that warning on flyers...
 
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