Saturday’s 9Fest will see a beefed-up law enforcement presence compared with previous Number Fests in a push to keep the party raging without interruption.
Though past fests have always had officers patrolling within their jurisdiction, fest operators have added Athens and Ohio University police forces to the payroll, marking the first time they will be part of the fest in an official capacity.
Athens County Sheriff’s deputies, Athens Police and OU Police will patrol outside the venue, primarily helping with traffic flow and parking, while private security will take care of crowd control at the actual event.
“The most expensive of all of them is the sheriff’s office, which is well over $15,000,” said Dominic Petrozzi, an OU alumnus who founded Number Fest. “But we’re 100 percent glad to work alongside local law heroes of Athens.”
OU Police Chief Andrew Powers and Athens Police Capt. Ralph Harvey were unavailable for comment, but Petrozzi said the festival pays a special duty rate for their services.
Athens Police will patrol the West Union Street area, where the fest is taking place, while OU Police will generally stick to Peden Stadium, Petrozzi said.
Though it cuts into the fest’s profits, the advantage of having law enforcement allows the fest to go on as planned.
“When you’ve gone eight years without an incident, that has to be attributed to something important,” Petrozzi said. “(Law enforcement) is one of the top-five line items we have for the entire event following entertainment, venue, ticketing and marketing.”
Though important to keeping the fest raging on, local law enforcement won’t be inside the venue, Petrozzi said, adding that 30 private security officers will be inside to help with crowd control.
“They’re going to be there to help, not to harass. It’s not like the city of Athens forced us to do this,” Petrozzi said. “Our goal is to get everybody home safe and sound.”
But the Ohio Investigative Unit, responsible for about half the arrests at High, Palmer, Oak and Mill fests, will have jurisdiction inside the fest grounds. The undercover agents from the unit have jurisdiction anywhere there’s alcohol.
9Fest is slotted to have about the same number of agents as the street fests, said Julie Hinds, spokeswoman for the unit.
The agents’ tactics will not change for the fest, but the unit will combat a different set of risks because 9Fest is not in the city and drunken driving by partiers could be dangerous.
“It’s different (from other fests) in that there is the real severe possibility of people driving,” Hinds said. “We’re looking to curtail a major incident.”
— Xander Zellner contributed to this report.
jj360410@ohiou.edu
