RAVE ON!

Cops don't want to see parties go underground

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 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 of 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 ecstacy
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 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."