CHESHIRE Police have hailed the policing operation for Creamfields 2015 a success after nearly 70,000 music fans arrived at Daresbury near Warrington over the August bank holiday weekend for the annual music festival.
Once again the Police worked closely with the event organisers to ensure that it ran safely and smoothly.
Inspector Stuart Sheer, who has led the planning of the policing of the event said: “I am extremely pleased with the policing operation at this year’s event. This year was the tenth time that the music festival has taken place in Cheshire, and every year the event is getting bigger.
“I would like to take this as an opportunity to thank all of those who attended the event and helped to create such a great atmosphere.
“I would specifically like to thank all of the officers who policed this year’s festival for their continued hard work, along with the officer and staff who have assisted with the planning of this year’s event.
“As with previous year’s there has been really good co-operation between the organisers and all of the partner agencies, which has helped to achieve a highly successful event for all concerned.
“As a result of careful planning, a high profile police presence and a proactive approach by police and the organisers, and a good natured crowd were once again able to enjoy it safely.”
A dedicated team, involving police officers and police staff, has been involved in the planning process for months.
Plans were put in place to deal with everything from security and traffic to noise and any issues in the local community. The plans were put in place in conjunction with the organisers, the two local authorities and other agencies as well as in consultation with local residents.
The policing operation started on Friday, August 28 with the majority of festival goers heading to the site on Friday and Saturday morning.
Officers were assigned a variety of roles throughout the course of the weekend. Within the site officers carried out various tasks − including dealing with any incidents of crime and disorder, regularly patrolling the campsite to provide reassurance to campers and to deter thieves and supporting the security staff.
Externally, officers were involved with traffic management and policing in the local community that surrounds the site.
Local policing inspectors worked throughout the course of the weekend with a team of dedicated community officers to deal with any issues that arose and to minimise any disruption to local residents.
A total of 76 people were arrested over the weekend, the majority of which were drugs related as well as a variety of other offences including robbery. In addition to arrests, officers also issued more than 45 cautions.
Festival goers were once again warned before the event that action would be taken against anyone caught carrying drugs, including legal highs, or weapons.
Searches were a condition of entry and festival goers were asked to place any drugs or weapons in the bins provided at the entrance to the event arena. Anyone found with drugs or weapons, having not placed them into the bins, were dealt with by police.
Due to the festival being a 3 day event, with more than 55,000 attendees camping on-site, festival goers were once again urged to keep their valuables safe and use the secure cloakroom on site, which was provided by the event organiser.
Approximately 180 crimes were reported over the course of the weekend, all of these will be investigated by officers. Crimes reported included thefts, assaults and fraud.
There were a few problems with traffic heading to the site on Friday and Saturday morning − with some congestion on the M56 and on local roads, which caused some delays for festival goers trying to get to the site.
But overall, drivers listened to the advice they were given and followed the official routes.
Cheshire Police once again worked closely with the organisers of the music festival to minimise the impact of the event on local residents.
Over the weekend local policing Chief Inspector Sarah Heath and Inspector Barry Brown were on hand with a team of dedicated community officers to deal with any issues arising from the event.
Any policing issues or concerns that were raised were fed back to the community beat managers within the local villages.
Chief Inspector Sarah Heath said: “The team of dedicated community officers responded to any calls from local residents and visited anyone who had any issues or concerns.
“I would once again like to thank members of the community for their co-operation and understanding prior to and throughout the event.”
A @CreamfieldsCops selfie
@CreamfieldsCops with festival goers
@CreamfieldsCops team briefing
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