THE Tamworth Country Music Festival might be done and dusted for the year, but the local police are singing the praises of the crowds that toed the line.
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Festival-goers have packed up and left and so too have the 240 men and women in blue deployed to police the festival alongside local officers, with no major incidents reported.
“The greater majority of people that came to the festival in Tamworth this year had a really good time, we had the usual couple of clowns that spoiled it for the rest, and look in general terms it was a great show with no real problems for police,” Oxley Chief Inspector Jeff Budd said.
ID scanning was put to the test for the first time during festival at most CBD venues, alongside 12.30am lockouts and bans on shots and high-alcohol ready-mixed drinks, as part of the local liquor accord restrictions.
“I think our Liquor Accord has done a great job and that has had a big impact on how people behaved,” Chief Inspector Budd said. “There is a lot of reported crime but in terms of our intoxication levels and our violent crimes, we’re pretty happy because they’re all down this year.
“I think the scanners have been accepted really well. It’s almost for the patrons like having a selfie every night when they go out and they’re really embracing it, it’s been great, it puts those that want to misbehave on notice.”
Chief Inspector Budd said police had to deal with groups of juveniles causing problems in local shopping centres on and off, but he said officers worked with management to issue banning notices and move people on, many of them locals.
On the roads, motorists were also well behaved with just a handful of drug and drink-driving detections throughout the 10-day police operation.
“That was really, really good, going back to the days five and six years ago where we were up to the 50 mark. That’s really impressive and people are getting the message to drive safely,” Chief Inspector Budd said.
