Police issue statement on number of arrests at Creamfields

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A total of 118 people were arrested at Creamfields festival over the weekend for a variety of offences, Cheshire Police has said.

This was down from 164 arrests at last year’s festival. Cheshire Police worked closely with event organisers and other agencies to make sure the event went ahead as safely as possible, which involved a significant policing operation both over the bank holiday weekend itself and intensive planning.

There were 164 crimes reported for a range of offences, the most common of which was for drugs, the force said. The number of crimes was down from 222 reported last year, while the number of drug offences also dropped, with 99 offences this year compared to 135 last year. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features. Superintendent Sarah Heath, who led the policing operation for Creamfields 2023, said: “Almost 70,000 people attended this year’s event and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the vast majority of festival-goers for their cooperation and their behaviour and for all the agencies that worked together so well throughout. “We recognise that large events can have an increased prevalence of drugs and by working with other agencies in the run-up and during the weekend we have sought to address this. “There were drugs dogs at entrances and opportunities for illegal substances and weapons to be placed in surrender bins along with an extensive search process by security personnel at entrances to the site. “A conscious effort was also made to target those who were intent on supplying illegal substances at the event – which accounted for more than half of the arrests made – while we made use of other options available to us, such as