Concern over policing of ‘rave’ party
30 April 2007 | 08:31
DANIELLE NUTTALL
CONCERNS were raised last night over the police’s handling of a “rave-type” party in the Suffolk countryside which continued throughout the weekend.
Suffolk Constabulary was inundated with complaints about loud music coming from a travellers’ site at Sutton Heath, near Woodbridge, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The party, which is believed to have been a wake, continued until 8am on Saturday and started up again at 9.30pm that evening.
It came on the same weekend as revellers gathered for an illegal rave on the Suffolk-Norfolk border at Thetford Forest.
After the initial disturbance on Saturday, officers received further complaints about “rave-type music” from residents living in the Woodbridge and Melton area shortly after midnight yesterday and launched the police helicopter to assess the situation.
A group of between 40 to 50 people, vehicles and two camp fires were seen and officers liaised with Suffolk Coastal District Council’s environmental health team.
The party continued throughout the night and was still going on yesterday afternoon.
The force made a decision in the early hours of yesterday not to divert resources from other towns to break up the event because it said policing activity around pubs and clubs was a priority.
But disappointment was expressed last night over the lack of communication to residents about what was happening.
Christine Block, who represents the Sutton ward on the district council, said the event was fairly low-key compared to the rave which occurred two years ago at Ramsholt, near Woodbridge.
But she added: “I’m fairly disappointed the police haven’t actually been on site.
“Information from the police would have been very helpful indeed, even if they did not see the necessity to break the rave up or to manage traffic.
“The police helicopter was up but you cannot judge noise from the helicopter. I have heard nothing from the police as the local district councillor.”
A spokesman for Suffolk police said the force had liaised with the district council which had sent out environmental officers to monitor the situation throughout the weekend.
Meanwhile, a group of revellers were “hostile” and sat on a police car as officers attempted to disrupt an illegal rave in woodland on the Suffolk-Norfolk border.
Police were called in the early hours of yesterday morning following reports of a gathering of between 150 and 200 vehicles in the Thetford Forest area.
Officers from Suffolk police were dispatched at about 1.15am to find an illegal party at woodland at Euston, near Thetford.
However, when officers tried to block off access to the site, off Rushford Road, they faced an angry crowd of 20 partygoers, who surrounded a police car and sat on it.
A Suffolk police spokesman said they would be attempting to identify and prosecute the people involved in the fracas and officers conducted alcohol breath tests and drug tests on drivers leaving the forest track.
“We tried to prevent vehicles from entering the site, but were met with hostility.
“Because of the level of hostility that was met in the middle of the night, it was not safe for our officers or the safety of the people attending to take any action.
“Also, we did not have many complaints from neighbours, so it was decided to monitor it from a safe distance.”
He added: “It is difficult to try to police something of that scale. The officers’ safety is paramount and we will not send them where they are heavily outnumbered.”
The rave was wrapped up by midday yesterday with police making no arrests.
Earlier this year, Suffolk police agreed plans earlier this year to shave £30,000 off the budget by ceasing proactive policing of raves. It was among a string of necessary cuts to meet the Government’s £1.5million efficiency savings target.
