‘The concert’s organisers suggested the two-day concert format would calm people, but our (incident) figures don’t suggest that,’ Senior Sergeant Mic Dalla-Costa said.
Of the 22,000 people who attended on November 20 and 24,000 the following day, 35 were found carrying drugs including ecstasy, dexamphetamine or cannabis, and two adults were charged with possessing drugs to sell or supply.
Another 10 concertgoers were arrested and 44 will be summonsed for disorderly conduct, while the juveniles face charges including disorderly conduct, giving false information and breaching move-on orders.
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‘But we did have low levels of serious offences and had no serious assaults,’ Sgt Dalla-Costa said.
He said police’s early invention, including 173 move-on notices and concert security refusing showground entry to about 300 people during the two days, had helped to limit the number of incidents.
There were 67 move-on notices at the day-long event in 2012, compared with 73 in the first day this year. The only report of urinating in adjacent streets was after people got off a charter bus in Chancellor Street.
The Royal Agricultural Society said it had received positive reports of concert-goers’ behaviour, traffic and crowd control.
‘The vast majority of patrons were well behaved and considerate of the local community,’ society chief operating officer Peter Cooper said.
Mr Cooper said there were only three noise complaints and concert-goers used trains and a designated party bus drop-off area.
He said a traffic plan developed with Claremont Council minimised the impact of the concert on the community, while extra security, toilets and rubbish bins helped prevent anti-social behaviour.