While thousands of festival-goers flocked to the annual Rhythm & Vines music festival in Tairāwhiti, so did more than 40 Police staff ready to mingle and ensure everyone enjoyed a safe four-day New Year party.
Planning for the event, which attracted around 22,000 people, begins months in advance with staff brought in from Hawke’s Bay to support their Tairāwhiti colleagues.
Senior Sergeant Jason Evans was the Operation Coordinator, assigning staff to roles including the venue team, car park team, alcohol harm, intel, CIB and logistics. A further 26 staff were involved in road policing, including the Impairment Prevention Team (IPT).
“Everything from accommodation and meals to rostering and liaising with the festival organisers needs to be carefully planned,” says Jason.
One thing Jason can't plan for is the weather. On day two a red rain warning hit Tairāwhiti and it poured down, turning the festival grounds at Waiohika Estate, several kilometres out of Gisborne, into a mud pit.
“That meant staff donning gumboots and wet weather gear and organisers keeping a close watch on river levels to ensure the safety of everyone at the festival," says Jason.
Jason says the relationship between festival organisers and Police has developed over the years, with police now sitting in the festival command centre.
“This has made a huge difference; we work alongside the R&V team and can deploy staff quickly to any areas of concern and on the flipside, we can inform organisers of anything our staff are seeing on the ground.”
Fortunately, the rain stopped but the mud remained, which made for a mucky festival ground, with tractors brought in to even out the mosh pit and make it ready for another night of partying.
On the first day of the festival, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers visited the venue alongside Tairāwhiti Area Commander Danny Kirk and Eastern District Commander Jeanette Park. They chatted with staff, organisers and festival-goers who were keen to grab a photo with the Commissioner.
Jason says overall, the behaviour of those attending the festival was good. There were four arrests for supplying drugs and breaches of bail, possession of an offensive weapon and behaving threateningly.
As staff dust off their gumboots and take some well-earned time off, planning begins for next year’s event where we will do it all again!