Sound-Guy wrote:
This really wasnt a rave when i got there bout 9 on saturday night, more like a dam riot! Wish i had gone friday now as i would have been able to see most the rigs in action. The one phat one that was beein smashed in at the end was not enen turned on in the 7 hours i was there. Are they even aloud to do that?????
they are supposed to be “proportionate” but there is no law (other than the much-maligned and discredited Human Rights Act) protecting private property from being seized or destroyed by law enforcement agencies in the course of their duty.
in law anyone (not just cops) can commit an act that would normally be crime to stop a larger crime being committed – provided a “reasonable person” agrees (the definition of a reasonable person is obviously vague and often has to be decided in Court)
Peace campaigners have got away with destroying a military aircraft worth thousands as they argued (correctly) it would be sold to a bad regime in some Eastern country – and they don’t have half the power cops do!
This is also how bouncers in clubs can get away with physically removing someone from a venue (which is otherwise assault) if they believe they are going to fight or sell drugs.
it could be argued in Court that disabling the sound equipment was the only way of dispersing the crowd. The only action the crews can launch against this is a civil action for the cost of the property – but then the landowner can launch a counterclaim for any costs and damages.
Cops have trashed rigs and private property of crew people fairly often during the 90s (they were actually often worse before the CJA!), and ravers have fought back by getting more into dealing, scams, theft etc to fund the replacement kit (even if they were not previously involved in crime), and of course youths who get beaten by cops when they were just innocent bystanders tend to lose faith in law and order, other than that merely secured by physical force.
Of course cops still “win” by this as they can argue there is more crime to deal with.
