- This topic has 7 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated November 12, 2008 at 4:34 pm by process.
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November 12, 2008 at 12:25 pm #1045887
Police vet live music, DJs for ‘terror risk’
Locking down garage…and RnB, basement
A dozen London boroughs have implemented a “risk assessment” policy for live music that permits the police to ban any live music if they fail to receive personal details from the performers 14 days in advance. The demand explicitly singles out performances and musical styles favoured by the black community: garage and R&B, and MCs and DJs.
However all musical performances – from one man playing a guitar on up – are subject to the demands once implemented by the council. And the threat is serious: failure to comply “may jeopardise future events by the promoter or the venue”.
November 12, 2008 at 12:44 pm #1187087must have been a slow tech news day for El Reg.
The met have been doing this for years, since UK Garage and other similar genres with aggressive lyrics and a culture of confrontation / actual fighting amongst rival crews led to an increasing problem with violence at these events.
if muppets didn’t go around shooting up clubs and each other because they got offended by some lyric or just wanted to start beef to look “hard” then the feds wouldn’t have to pull off these kinds of stunts.
I live in a town where we lost our biggest late night venue due to this gang culture and the cops now view all dance music events as a risk.
It may seem excessive but you do have to ask yourself why the cops didn’t do it 10 years ago – the technology was there, maybe it does come down to problems within the entertainments industry?
November 12, 2008 at 1:19 pm #1187091yeah tbf they banned garage nights in birmingham pretty much the first or second year i moved there (about 6/7yrs ago) not a bad thing really considering the musics wank and the crowd it attracts is generally ful of idiots. did mean that a lot of other nights got a lot rougher tho.
November 12, 2008 at 3:34 pm #1187088the term “terror risk” used by el reg is just exaggeration IMO, metpol’s official policy is the same as anywhere else and is protecting against “crime and disorder”.
I think a lot of white people are frightened to say this for risk of being labelled racist, but I am non-white, a Londoner, formerly a fan of urban music and I do think many young British Black (and some Asian males) particularly in London and the inner cities are encouraged into aggressive, misogynistic and criminal behaviour by the street culture associated with this kind of music.
People from other racial groups since the 80s and increased interaction have looked up to this “rude boy” behaviour and try and emulate it. Incidentally a “rude boy” was originally someone from a rival dancehall crew what went into a dance and caused trouble/disruption to get it closed down.
Youths of London have been given since the 1980s and equal opportunities a platform to express themselves, and a significant minority of them have chosen to take a bad path in life because of the art they follow. I think at that point as a society we have to, reluctantly, place some potential limits on free speech and expression if it has the risk of harming others.
Originally, the cops only had this in some parts of London, and more councils appear to have joined. Maybe it has actually reduced problems with events?
November 12, 2008 at 3:51 pm #1187092General Lighting;244577 wrote:Maybe it has actually reduced problems with events?from my experience in brum, banning garage, just meant that the usually peaceful and friendly dnb nights and hip hop nights i used to go to turned into gang war zones within about a year. People pulling out machete’s at the bar, jumping over the counter grabbing bar staff, then flashing handguns when the bouncers rushed in. A drive by on a group of bouncers cause they kicked some dickheads out, cs gas being let off in two clubs i know of. 1 guy getting nicked with 2 handguns coming out of some club i was in, gangs rushing the door etc et cte. Kept going out for a few years, but after a while it just wasnt worth it. i go out to have a good time, im not paying to go out then have to watch my back the whole time. fuck that. at least when garage events happened it seemed to all be contained in one venue and was pretty much gang on gang rather than gang on anyone that looks at them wrong. pricks. :you_crazy:
November 12, 2008 at 3:58 pm #1187089in that case its shown up that the entire dance music scene is too easily infiltrated by scum – if venue security can’t contain it or co-operate (however reluctantly) with the feds or use metal detectors or whatever security protocol is required then maybe all the events do need controlling until the situation can be made safer?
presumably things have got safer though as DSI is still full of legal events in Birmingham and I’ve not heard of any further lockdowns on the nightlife…
November 12, 2008 at 4:06 pm #1187093General Lighting;244583 wrote:in that case its shown up that the entire dance music scene is too easily infiltrated by scum – if venue security can’t contain it or co-operate (however reluctantly) with the feds or use metal detectors or whatever security protocol is required then maybe all the events do need controlling until the situation can be made safer?presumably things have got safer though as DSI is still full of legal events in Birmingham and I’ve not heard of any further lockdowns on the nightlife…
yeah it seemed to catch brum completely unawares. Just an example of the cops not thinking anything through properly. Think they thought that if they cancelled garage nights all the gangs would just think fuck it and stay in watching telly instead :you_crazy:
As the nights had previously been peacefull they hadnt needed a really high level of protection. Think now the clubs have sorted it out a bit and the gangs seemed to have got the message that its not worth going to places like that as they’ll more than likely get nicked. It was ridiculous for a few years tho. the dnb night i used to love and was really popular ‘Prosession’ actually decided to pull the plug cause of all the violence and shit.
November 12, 2008 at 4:34 pm #1187090djprocess;244585 wrote:yeah it seemed to catch brum completely unawares. Just an example of the cops not thinking anything through properly. Think they thought that if they cancelled garage nights all the gangs would just think fuck it and stay in watching telly instead :you_crazy:I don’t think they are that stupid, after all pest controllers know that destroying a habitat means the target pests will seek another one..
I suspect they may have made a calculated decision to highlight a core of criminality within the dance music scene what has been present for 20 years or more, and to monitor whether the venues themselves could handle it or whether it would create a situation where venue owners are forced to come running to the feds for protection.
at least people there are lucky that nightlife is deemed worth enough to Birmingham for the cops to protect it.
Also the Met tend to learn from mistakes made in provincial areas. Incidentally the manager of Zest was told in December 2006 by senior officers from both Scotland Yard and Suffolk Constabulary of a risk of gang-related violence. He chose to ignore that warning presumably so as not to lose out on the hire fees and potential profits.
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