Rave on!

Cops don't want to see parties go underground

Publication title: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Publication date: April 5, 2000
Document type: News
Article author: David Sands
Transcribed by: MW



A city cop on the scene of a troubled weekend rave at Northlands doesn’t want to see an upset public drive the all-night youth dances underground.

Edmonton police Sgt. Randy Wickins said it will be important to keep the frenzied youth dance parties open – and accountable.

“I saw tons of people who were sober and straight and having a great time. I saw tons of people who were just whacked out, too,” said Wickins, who was in charge of policing at the event that ended about 7 a.m. Sunday.

“Six people went to hospital at the end of the night and there were two others in the middle of the night.”

He’s been asked to contribute to a report to city council on what happened at the rave, which was held at the publicly funded Northlands Sportex.

Organizer Keith Rubuliak blamed a “mad, crazy light show” for the seizures suffered by a handful of the kids attending and slammed media stories on the mishap, claiming it has led Northlands to review a policy on hosting raves.

Sgt. Wickins said while he has no doubt that the youths’ seizures were drug-related, he wouldn’t want to see the events banned from public facilities. “Look, the raves are not going away, so we need to effectively manage these kinds of things.

“I don’t want to jump ahead of their (Northlands) report, but one of the problems was trying to get the number of people they had into the venue in an efficient and timely manner.

“And one of the reasons it was slow was that they were doing such a good job searching for drugs.”

That kind of scrutiny is less likely to occur if raves are driven underground, he said. “I arrested one fellow for trafficking ecstasy and handed him over (to other cops on scene).”

Cops also want the ability to keep other negative forces out of the youth bashes, he said. “I have worked two other raves and there’s no violence.

“We know that’s not always the case elsewhere, that there are raves where there is lots of violence, and I think we are concerned we are heading in that direction.”

The promoter’s plan to slap an age limit on future events is a bright move, said Wickins. “I think that’s a great idea. That’s one of the things that needs to be looked at.”


Ravers invited to City Hall – Page 8

Rave rules won’t help – Kerry Diotte, Page 11