How can Music Festival Organisers Prevent Smuggled Alcohol from Entering a Site.

Festival-goers smuggling alcohol onto a festival site still persists presenting challenges for organisers. There are licencing and compliance issues plus the protection of commercial revenue to be considered. What steps can organisers take to prevent festival-goers from smuggling hidden alcohol onto a festival site.

Most music festivals need to obtain permits and licences that allow them to sell alcohol on a festival site which include strict control over what is sold to who and when. In addition, organisers usually carefully select vendors or award concessions to experienced businesses to operate licensed bars. Unmonitored alcohol consumption can raise concerns regarding underage drinking and increased incidents of intoxication. Festival-goers are often reluctant to pay the higher prices charged on a festival site and they continue to find innovative ways to smuggle alcohol onto a site. What prevention strategies can organisers implement to minimise such occurrences.

Festival Policies.
Every music festival that sells alcohol on a site will have documented policies attached to alcohol consumption. This includes age restrictions and enforcement of responsible drinking plus a ban on festival-goers bringing their own alcohol supplies onto a site. Other polices can include dedicated zones for consumption, usually close to bars and may exclude consumption in campsites and audience zones for example. Other common policies will include the security process that will be conducted on site entry and the consequences for festival-goers of attempting to bring alcohol onto a site. Any published policy will usually be agreed with the licensing authorities who are issuing permits and licences to ensure that local legislation is complied with.

Communication.
Organisers must take necessary steps to communicate their alcohol polices to festival-goers at every opportunity. Where a blanket ban on festival-goers bringing their own alcohol onto a site exists this must be included in the terms and conditions at the point of purchase of tickets and prevents any legal disputes later. Policies should be clearly stated on websites and in social media along with summaries of what is and what is not allowed on a site. These messages can also be posted at site entries to reinforce site policies regarding the smuggling of alcohol suppliers. Other key communication messages should include the security processes and searches festival-goers may expected at entry gates along with consequences of discovery, usually confiscation or even entry refusal. Some festivals may allow limited alcohol suppliers for personal use, but conditions and limits must be clearly communicated.

Licencing Requirements.
Experienced bar vendors who regularly operate on festival sites will have their own licencing obligations. This may include bar staff and festival-goers being over the legal minimum age, which can vary depending on jurisdiction. Most operators will have an age challenge process to ensure they are always compliant. Licencing authorities may also impose strict operating hours, usually in line with any relevant local rules. In addition, there is great emphasis on responsible drinking and bar operators will be expected to enforce this by refusing to serve individuals who they consider have already consumed too much, this prevents unsafe levels of intoxication. If festival-goers manage to bring their own alcohol supplies onto a site there are no controls over how much alcohol is consumed by underage festival-goers and their hours of drinking. Licensing authorities expect organisers to enforce any prevailing rules regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol on their site and is why they have strict enforcement policies.

Security Protocols.
The primary detection point for smuggled alcohol onto a festival site is the entry gates which can be sources of rapid queue build ups if not efficiently managed. Contactless scanning of electronic tickets and smooth security searches can minimise congestion at gates. Any delays can result in security protocols being sacrificed for safety reasons. Correctly trained security staff can identify the most likely places festival-goers use to conceal alcohol including camping equipment, rucksacks and toiletry containers, for example. Some organisers opt for sophisticated x-ray screening which can quickly identify concealed alcohol supplies. It is not only festival-goers on foot who are responsible for smuggling unauthorised alcohol supplies onto a site as they can be hidden in their cars and other contractor or supplier vehicles, for example. Where possible security staff should target searches based on intelligent observation selecting those who demonstrate suspicious behaviour. In addition to festival-goer and vehicle entry gates some individuals also try to smuggle alcohol supplies through vulnerable perimeter fencing that may have been breached and in rare instances may even bury supplies on a festival site months before it has been built. The security protocols for identifying smuggled alcohol should form part of the organiser's overall alcohol control framework planning rather than being handled on site on an ad hoc basis.

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