Festivals For All catches up with Download Festivals very own Detective Constable.

It’s not often you get the chance to interview a detective constable, but Festivals For All managed too. We got the chance to speak to the man who is in charge of making one of the biggest festivals in the country a crime free hot spot. DC Kev Walker works closely with festival promoters Live Nation to make sure any criminals who do turn up and try and commit crime get caught and punished. With the use of social media at the forefront of the campaign advising festival goers what they should and shouldn’t take, they can do their bit to stop themselves becoming victims of crime.

FFA -How has the use of social media changed the way you approach policing the festival? As they say information is key. Is keeping in touch all year round beneficial?

Kev Walker - We are finding on the lead up to the festival that Facebook and Twitter are becoming a really important part of  our communication with the audience, this medium enables us to really drop hints about "crime prevention" and interact with the audience prior to them getting inside the arena. I really feel this has benefited the festival as a whole.  Before we used social media we got a spot on the Download Festival website, but you never really knew if this was taken on-board by the audience.  With Facebook and Twitter they are actually communicating with us. Crime prevention is sometimes basic common sense, but for festival virgins they have no experience of a festival and what they should take, and more importantly not take.  This really does cut down on crime in and around the festival.

FFA - I totally agree with the approach you have taken, at the end of the day you are there to prevent crime and make sure that the audience are safe and hopefully have a great festival.

Kev Walker - That is our sole aim, to prevent crime. At the end of the day it is our passion for the job that makes this whole social media work.   Hellen (one of Leicestershire police press officers) does a lot of the social media side of things from home as do I; we are human beings doing a job, a job we very much enjoy.  It is also very rewarding job. We have fought really hard to get away from the "us & them" mentality, Download 06 had problems and since then every effort has been made to make sure we are seen as approachable, even to the extent of appearing in photos & videos receiving "free hugs" and the like. Some of these things are not seen as corporate but it does show the audience that we are human and we can have fun whilst doing our job.

FFA - Obviously Social media has highlighted the role of the police; do the officers who “walk the beat” embrace the idea of social media?

Kev Walker - Absolutely, we promote the use of social media, a lot of them are already on Facebook and Twitter.  Beat officers now use Twitter as a way to communicate with communities so they are no strangers to social media. When we brief the officers we tell them don’t be afraid to have your picture taken, as we will put them on Facebook. 

FFA - How do you go about combating touts / counterfeiters? Are law abiding festival goers your “12th Man”?

Kev Walker - We work very closely with Live Nation to combat touts and counterfeiters, they have a dedicated person who just deals with this. We still struggle with members of the public telling us that they have purchased dodgy merchandise or even counterfeit tickets, maybe its embarrassment or maybe they just don’t realise they have been ripped off. We have just had a prosecution from 2010 go through the courts where a gentleman got 26 months for selling counterfeit goods in the car park at Download.

FFA - That’s good news, it does show that people who break the law do get what they deserve. That leads me nicely onto my next question - is there a league table of crime at festivals? And how does Download compare?

Kev Walker - No there isn’t, it’s not something we (The Police in General) have ever thought about.  At the end of the day we are only able to deal with what is put in front of us and every festival police team would agree with this. Download is a temporary town for 5 days, in context it’s about the same size as Loughborough when all the residents and students are in town and partying. We are seen as innovators and early adopters of how festivals are policed and were not afraid to try new things in how we combat crime. 

FFA - Has social media brought the festival goers and police officers closer together? We have had “Ralph” and “security guard 836” is it the police’s turn next year?

Kev Walker - Yes and probably, we have already had dozens of police officers on YouTube and I'm sure at some point we will have a dancing policeman waving an inflatable hammer in the air.

FFA - Does the weather affect the amount of crime that takes place?

Kev Walker - Yes it does, I think it's more to do with people leaving their tents later to go to the arena and also go back to their tents earlier. This really stops the opportunist thief as there are more people around.   There is a definite trend in crime rates during the festival, Wednesday seems to be the peak as arriving at the festival everybody is excited and leave stuff lying around, people haven’t got to know their neighbours and these thieves will take the opportunity.

FFA - How many officers police a festival as large as Download?

Kev Walker - Leicestershire Constabulary’s policy is not to disclose the number of officers it uses at any event, we would only say that we deploy the right number of people for any eventuality, whether that be uniformed or undercover. We get this question a lot, one year we even published a photo with faces blanked out, showing that the UC teams really do look like the audience and blend in very well.

FFA - Do you get time to watch any bands? 

Kev Walker - We do have some down time which enables us to watch bands, although it really depends on what is happening at the time.

FFA - So who was your favourite from 2011?

Kev Walker - I thought The Darkness were very good, that’s my type of music. AC/DC in 2010 were excellent. I do tend to look at the program and try get some time to see the bands I want to, both my daughters go to the festival and I met up with them to see Pendulum this year and Prodigy in 2010.

FFA - Who would you like to see on the stage in 2012?

Kev Walker - (silence) uhmmmm I really don’t know, gosh that has thrown me, I'm not usually speechless but I don’t know, someone who plays classic rock music, maybe Iron Maiden or Bon Jovi.

Check out the official Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/downloadcops or follow them on Twitter http://twitter.com/Downloadcops

The Facebook page has some great areal pictures of the festival site in full swing you can see these here