How about if the Glade organisers printed the "rules of engagement" they give the security teams in the program. That way we'd all be able to show them that, "you're not supposed to look in tents," or , "you're not supposed to take money from people," are maxims they need abide by.

Or better yet, a superfence and no security inside unless called by an Oxfam steward.

So, it seems that loads of people had bad experiences at the Glade with Shadow Security, they acted inappropriately, were aggressive, intimidating and in my opinion (in some cases) were breaking the law themselves.

So, has anyone made complaints to the security company? And is anyone willing to make statements to the police?

annetregenna wrote:So, it seems that loads of people had bad experiences at the Glade with Shadow Security, they acted inappropriately, were aggressive, intimidating and in my opinion (in some cases) were breaking the law themselves.

So, has anyone made complaints to the security company? And is anyone willing to make statements to the police?

One guy was arrested for possession with intent to supply. The case may be thrown out of court because the evidence was collected illegally - security doesn't have a right to search a tent without a warrant.

Part of the problem is that to have a case for assault the victim would need witnesses whose state of mind at the time of the incident is not in question - which automatically eliminates about 95% of festival goers (that figure increasingly as the festie progresses). That puts a lot more responsibility on any witness who isn't high/drunk/exhausted at the time.

That said, if there was an incident and a big enough group of witnesses went to the AAA stall to deal with it, Glade's organisers might take it seriously and may possibly even demand that the security personnel responsible be removed from the main part of the site and restricted to security duties away from festival goers. For that you wouldn't necessarily need the witnesses to be 100% sober - only one or two who can act as spokespersons. This would allow the festival-goers to act as a group without directly confronting security (which would just cause yet more problems) and would force the Glade organisers to take responsibility for the actions of their contractors' employees.


Taloen, that "Rules of Engagement" idea is probably one of the best so far, and I definitely think Glade should include that information in the FREE programs (not the magazine-type programs) and also that the information should be made available to punters in the location emails before the festival. If we all know exactly what our rights are, we will know exactly what we can complain about later. The information may have been made available when the tickets were bought, but I would be surprised if it hadn't changed between then and the festival, and in any case most people don't read the "small print" because a lot of it isn't essential.

Just my two penn'orth


Glade 2004, I didn't see ANY security apart from those doing daily campsite fire safety checks, until the Sunday evening when 2 personnel appeared from nowhere and confiscated a bottle of lighter fluid (the guy was squirting it onto the hot coals he was using for his hukka)

Glade 2005, I didn't see ANY security apart from those putting the fences back up after they'd been shoved down. There's not many people who didn't have their tents rifled at some point over the weekend (I was one of the lucky ones).

Glade 2006, I saw SHITLOADS of security. I can't speak for anybody else but I felt a lot more safe with them around, and the people at my camp were commenting on how good the security were this year, clearing out people without wristbands, although a couple of people had also "heard about" cases where they'd been heavy handed with people. Crime was down, fence jumping was down, and security caught a few of the offenders (it's surely not difficult to spot someone who's walking from camp to camp with a rucksack and stopping at the empty ones!!! maybe at night, tho, like, but I heard the security were equipped with night vision goggles.....)


You're not going to complain about how good the security were, are you.

Sounds like a storm in a teacup.

baldmosher wrote:I heard the security were equipped with night vision goggles.....)

I saw quite a few security guys with the night vision goggles at ID Spiral looking for either fence jumpers or dealers.

rymalco wrote:

baldmosher wrote:I heard the security were equipped with night vision goggles.....)

I saw quite a few security guys with the night vision goggles at ID Spiral looking for either fence jumpers or dealers.

How to get rid of them easily? Take their photo with the flash on.

Doesn't hurt to say "excuse me, can I just check your wrist bands please" - I'd like to have seen more random spot checks of any shifty beggars the security might come across.

Still, better than last year by a LONG shot.

it does seem like their 'stormtrooper presence' was a knee jerk reaction to things happening on thursday. i was quite shocked to hear that thieving was happening that early. but some people, even though they may not have much worth stealing, they spread themselves around a bit shall we say, & i think that would attract attention. i just been reading about other festies, sonar in particular, loads of pick pocketing & mugging apparently. better to look out for yourselves, not be too complacent. i don't think glade can wave a magic wand & make these things go away, criminals are devious they will find a way so don't put it right in front of 'em innit. i would much prefer it if people wisened up so that security wern't haplessly stumbling about the camping areas, not really knowing what to do about anything (apart from the default meathead security presence) & instead they could be doing more perimetre patrols.

salx wrote:it does seem like their 'stormtrooper presence' was a knee jerk reaction to things happening on thursday.

It was quite an eye-opener that the tent-robbers on the Thursday night actually bought tickets, wasn't it? I presume that includes the guy who was caught with 80-odd wallets. They were obviously confident of making a biiiiig profit.

the eye opener was hearing about it one hour after arrival just after thursday lunchtime, only yards away! i think if an event has a "chilled laid back vibe" then someone is thinking "great! lot's of stoners not paying any attention to anything including their wallets"
i'm always checking my pockets else i loose stuff

i had my own tactics against theives - it was natural tho. make the tent as messy as possible and if they dare to go in they'll say 'fuck that'. even i said it and slept in the little in out bit. and i couldn't find anything and when trying to find summat i kept going back to the same object.

Seeing as the Glade 06 forum is locked, I had to post this here.

I was reading the thread about supposedly "heavy-handed" security methods, and I'm wondering if I just got very lucky or whether people are exaggerating a tad. I personally had no problems with the security. They never hassled me or anyone I was with, and though I saw the Black 4x4 speeding around I thought it was quite funny actually (no one else seemed to care either). A couple of security guards walked through our campsite when my friend was using his grinder, and they told us they didn't care as long as he wasn't selling (entirely reasonable, really, considering that festivals aren't exempt from the law, as much as we might want them to be). I had far more issues with the filthy bastards that rummaged through people's tents in the night and stole their property. A friend of mine was awake in his tent (after going a little overboard on the stimulants and not getting any sleep) when one of them came in to steal his stuff. The guy left sharpish, but my friend was pretty shaken by it (he's a bit paranoid by nature, granted). I found that there is always some cunt out there to fuck people over at every festival, even one as small and friendly as The Glade, and those people usually AREN'T the security. I don't know if the thieves got kicked out or arrested or just gave up 'cos they already had enough stuff, but after the Friday night there was no more tent crime anywhere near our campsite. If that's down to the security, then I'll praise them.

Sorry if that reads like a moan.... it's just an observation. I don't think it's necessary to change too much, security-wise, for this year, except possibly the distinctly un-tall perimeter fence! Maybe it was the fence-jumpers who did all the nicking, who can say?

Quite a relief to hear from someone who didn't have a problem with the security. Reading the posts about people's encounters with them last year was a bit worrying.
At other festivals I've always been impressed with how chilled security and even the police have been, only getting involved if there was dangerous/violent behaviour or dealing that was just TOO blatant.
I don't want to be at a festival constantly feeling paranoid that I am about to be thrown in a van and strip searched.
The security/police should be there for OUR security/safety, not to stop us enjoying ourselves and make us constantly paranoid.

I agree with you about the fence issue. It really pissed me off that it was clearly so easy to climb over the fence despite all the promises from the organiser about putting ticket money into making this better.

And I bet it wasn't paying festi goers that was doing most of that thieving.

I didn't have any issues with security either

me niether

neither me, bar one time, when they took our speakerphone off of us in a really aggressive manor, quite uncalled for ... on the sunday night when we was talking out of it ...

When did that become against the rules?

we were walking towards the spiral spillign random shite outta it and the guy just pulled one of us aside and told him in his face, in a ver aggresive manor that basically if we didnt shut the fuck up it wuld be taken off of us ....

cunt

didn't have any probs myself, though had a paranoid moment when i was chilling in the morning - i could hear all these walkie talkie bleeps. hard to tell how far away or how long they were there 'cos of the state of my head, so i stayed put.

i saw something funny where this guy was dressed very posh in a suit having some argument with a hippy type (i think the suit was in jest though) & these security blokes were there mediating between them. quite funny when monged

sp3nny wrote:And I bet it wasn't paying festi goers that was doing most of that thieving.

Actually, the guy who was caught with 80-odd wallets had bought a ticket.

youllneverbe wrote:Seeing as the Glade 06 forum is locked, I had to post this here.

It's locked for a reason. They're last year's threads, of historical interest only, and there is little point in resurrecting them.

There is already a new thread to discuss this year's security issues here.