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Nearly 500 people were arrested this weekend at two electronic
music festivals in Pomona and San Bernardino, authorities said.

On Sunday, the second and final day of the Halloween-themed HARD
Day of the Dead festival at the Pomona Fairplex, 162 people were
arrested, according to figures released early Monday morning by
the Pomona Police Department. An additional 148 people were
arrested on Saturday.

Authorities in San Bernardino arrested about 180 people at
Escape: Psycho Circus, a two-day festival that began Friday at
the National Orange Show Events Center.

At the Pomona rave, which featured headliners such as Skrillex,
Deadmau5 and Hot Chip, most were arrested on charges of public
intoxication, possession of illegal drugs or being under the
influence of a controlled substance, police said in a statement.
About 100 people were arrested on charges of carrying fake
identification, authorities said.

The HARD Day of the Dead rave, which was hosted by Live Nation
Entertainment, was under heightened scrutiny after two young
women died of apparent drug overdoses after attending the Aug. 1
HARD Summer rave, also at the Pomona Fairplex. Several emergency
room physicians have said that raves threaten public health,
overwhelming hospitals and emergency rooms with young rave-
goers, and medical staffs having to cope with cases of seizures,
comas or deaths from illicit drugs.

After this summer's deaths, the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors unanimously convened a task force to examine rave
safety. The fairgrounds are managed by a nonprofit and sit on
county-owned land.

Beverly Hills-based Live Nation agreed to cancel a Sept. 10
electronic music event and added new measures for this weekend’s
festival, including capping attendance at 40,000 a day, instead
of 65,000, and raising the minimum age for entry to 21. The two
women who died this past summer were under 21.

The festival drew 20,000 attendees on Saturday. Sunday's figures
were not available, according to a spokeswoman, who said Live
Nation did not expect the crowd to exceed 20,000.

Other safety and security precautions for the event included
dozens of medical staff at two designated areas, three on-site
emergency room physicians, 184 police officers and 24 free water
distribution points. The music festival paid for all the costs
for police, fire and medical personnel.

Live Nation initially did not grant media credentials for this
weekend’s event but last week said it would offer credentials
"to qualifying media," according to a festival spokeswoman.

Insomniac, a Live Nation subsidiary, put on the Escape: Psycho
Circus rave in San Bernardino, which drew about 42,000 attendees
on Friday and an additional 46,000 on Saturday, San Bernardino
police Lt. Richard Lawhead said.

That festival saw no major incidents, and most of the arrests
were on charges of illegal drug possession, trespassing or
public intoxication, Lawhead said. Police had about a dozen
“amnesty boxes” where concertgoers could deposit illegal drugs
or weapons, with no questions asked.

“For the most part, all of the patrons were very, very
cooperative, nice, respectful,” Lawhead told The Times.

More than 100 San Bernardino police officers and county
sheriff’s deputies worked at the event, along with 500 private
security guards hired by Insomniac, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-arrest-electronic- music-pomona-san-bernardino-20151101-story.html
 

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