RCMP release stats following 2012 Shambhala Music Festival
By Bruce Fuhr
As in past years, police were out in full force during the 2012 Shambhala Music Festival hosted annually on a 200-plus acre private property site just off of Highway 3, south of Salmo.
And anytime there’s a strong police presence at an event attracting more than 10,000 people there’s bound to be a few driving infractions.
“It was pretty much as we expected,” RCMP Staff Sergeant Dan Seibel told The Nelson Daily Monday.
“The weather was warm. The attendance was at its max. And we had officers in place to keep the road safe and everybody safe while they were there and on their way home.”
Some of the infractions included impaired driving, speeding, no driver’s license, no insurance, seatbelts as well as 24-hour suspensions for drugs and alcohol.
As many as 50 officers from Trail to Castlegar and Nelson to Grand Forks and Nakusp assisted the Salmo detachment for the nine-day period, beginning August 6 and running until August 14.
Those officers came from Kootenay Boundary Regional Detachment (KBRD), uniform members, including Salmo and surrounding detachments, and KBRD General Investigation Section — plain clothes members — Integrated Road Safety Unit (IRSU, which has staff from both Nelson Police Department and RCMP), West Kootenay Traffic Unit, KBRD Police Dog Service unit, Traffic Canine unit and Automated License Plate Recognition Vehicle.
Some of the charges RCMP is recommending to crown council that occurred as a result of investigations during the festival include:
* Three Counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking — drugs located and seized by Salmo RCMP were cocaine, GHB (liquid), Mushrooms, ecstacy pills, marihuana and LSD (sheet form)
* Two counts for breach of conditions
* One count of assault
“The biggest thing I’ve noticed during the past two years is initially we had a larger seizures of drugs but as time goes on the word gets out people are more being more discreet or are bringing smaller qualities into our area,” Seibel explained.
Seibel said it takes approximately $100,000 to police the Shambhala Music Festival.
However, all of the policing is done on regular time.
“We start drawing up a schedule in January accessing officers from all the detachments in the area plus we limit holiday, training and court attendance during the period of the event to help keep costs down,” said Seibel.
Seibel commends organizers from Shambhala for cooperating with police to keep the largest event in the West Kootenay as safe as possible.
However, this year saw the first death since Seibel has been involved with the policing the event when 23-year-old Mitchell Joseph Fleischacker of Sidney collapsed in the food court area at approximately 5:20 a.m. Sunday.
Fleischacker was transported to Trail Regional Hospital where he died due to a suspected drug overdose.
B.C. Coroner’s Service is conducting the investigation into the death.
FINAL STATS: charges/files aquired by IRSU and West Kootenay Traffic Services members.
SPEEDING………………………………………..118
EXCESSIVE SPEED Vehicle Impoundment…..2
NO DRIVERS LICENCE………………………….31
DRIVE CONTRARY TO RESTRICTIONS……..17
NOVICE (drive contrary to conditions) …….16
NO INSURANCE……………………………………5
SEATBELTS………………………………………37
INTERSECTION OFFENCES…………………….8
MOVING – ELECTONIC DEVICE………………..7
OTHER TRAFFIC………………………………..22
DRIVE WHILE PROHIBITED……………………10
VEHICLE IMPOUNDMENT……………………….1
24 HOUR SUSPENSION ALCOHOL…………….2
24 HOUR SUSPENSION DRUGS……………….2
IMPAIRED DRIVING DRUGS…………………….2
IMPAIRED DRIVING ALCOHOL…………………1
LIQUOR CONTROL ACT – ALCOHOL CHARGES…..8
CRIMINAL (POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY – ICBC DECAL)……1
DRUG CASES/DRUGS SEIZED:
CANNABIS…………………41
ECSTACY – MDMA……….16
PSILOCYBIN ……………….6
HASH………………………..1
LSD…………………………..2
KETAMINE…………………..1
RITALIN……………………..1
TRAFFICKING………………1
DRUG PROPERTY SEIZED (related to above)…17
NOTICE/ORDERS VARIOUS WARNINGS/EQUIPMENT DEFECTS….31
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