the Police need to have a case heard at Court before they can legally destroy a rig or take bits off it. The Court can equally order the items are returned but that is rare. Bear in mind magistrates, senior cops, politicians etc are as young as my age group now (30s to 40s) and they remember how things were funded “back in the day”.

Cops do tend to give very young crews just a flea in their ear i.e “words of advice” not to do it again and how to do it legally, provided they don’t have intelligence that the equipment has been funded by drug sales in which case they are a bit heavier.

It is not easy or advisable to second guess the Police nowadays as they have new radios and other tech which means that even if there is footy or other incidents on a weekend they can still call reinforcements to close down a rave. Also they might well let 3 or 4 raves happen from the same crew, painstakingly gather evidence from ANPR (number plate scanning), and other methods (including facebook and forums) and then bust them hard.

Penalties can in some cases include not just loss of a rig but a short prison sentence, especially if you do not have a day job (even plans for University do not make a difference). its happened already to two young lads I know.

What not to do when the cops show up… say “Great Costumes! Want to buy some drugs?”

Although it’s worth asking for warrant cards in case they aren’t cops, just competition looking to score some free sound equipment.