Chat about high-tech drug busts at Wakarusa Festival with concert promoter Brett Mosiman

Hidden, high-dollar equipment helped police crack down on drug dealing at this year’s Wakarusa Festival. A new article in a trade journal, Government Security News, describes the roughly $250,000 worth of hidden-camera, night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment used by police throughout the festival grounds. The equipment was courtesy of a California company that agreed to give a free demonstration of its wares for marketing purposes. Organizer Brett Mosiman has come under fire from concertgoers since the news was reported last week in the Journal-World. He takes your questions at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

basil

Were concertgoers alerted to the presence of cameras and other surveillance equipment? Best practices for electronic surveillance involve clear signage to such an effect (especially since the point is deterrence, right?). If not, why not?

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus

While you, the county and the state have a responsbility for providing security for the festival goers and the rest of the county residents who will be affected by the festival, the “big brother” nature of security measures this year clearly poses a threat to the continuation of this festival.

How will you provide the needed security without alienating a huge percentage of potential festival goers? Do you think the state and county would rather shut this thing down than respect their privacy and quiet enjoyment?

WAKA06_Survivor

Is there a chance of a venue change in 07?

double_d

I would like to know EXACTLY what questions were asked (and the responses) by the promoters to law enforcement prior to Waka ’06.

Were vague responses like “we will provide safety” or “we will survail” followed up to find out what was meant?

I am a BIG supporter of Wakarusa and want to see the festival continue. However, I will not be able to convince the hundreds of folks I have brought to this festival over the years to come back if some WHOLESALE changes are not made.

sunflower97

What type of drugs were found on the people who were caught with them at the festival? Was it anything stronger than marijuana, such as meth?

TheRealDecider

Why lie about it now? Wouldn’t it be better to just come clean and say “sorry, the money made me do it?”

bd

Is this festival now a thing of the past?
Are you going to try it again next year?

BD

bluzbill

What gets me is the way the few facts are blown out of proportion and I would love to get a factual breakdown of how many arrests there were, how many of those arrest were for alcohol only incidents, how many of those arrests were for misdemeanors drug (and what drug), how many were for felony possession, how many were for intent to distribute and the disposition of those cases.

robdew

Are you at all beholden to the state by holding your event on public property? Could you reasonably refuse the police presence if the event were held on private property, or would you more likely invite another “Utah rave” incident?

emilyhadley

How could the transportation and installation of all this equipment on festival grounds have gone unnoticed by festival security?

WereAllMonkeys

Thanks for creating this fantastic event in Lawrence, our family has truly enjoyed it all three years. I have a couple of questions; Why not use private land to keep out the “man”?
Also, in all three years I have only heard one mention from you in interviews paying homage to Mega-Keggar and Omega, could ya step up and give credit where credit is due, I don’t think there would be the Wakarusa festival had not the Mega shows paved the way.
Peace, and thanks again for all the hard work.

hurlehey_boy

Is it true that your partner in the event has a felony heroin conviction?

milehighhawk

There are reports that indicate you had prior knowledge of the surveilance equipment. Your “indignation” after the festival now, to many, appears contrived. How on earth do you think you will be able to regain enough credibility with concertgoers to make another Wakarusa possible?

kroniq

Brett,

I understand that a balance between security and privacy must be struck, but don’t you think that the knowledge of this kind of surveillance will only hurt future attendance in a manner that makes its implementation undesirable for yourself as an event organizer?

regularjohn

How in the world can a hi-tech surveillance operation as large and organized as this one be completely unknown to you and the other people in charge of the festival?

wakamcguire

Brett,
How can we as the concertgoers rest assured that you had abosolutely no idea that the law enforcement agencies at Wakarusa 2006 were using equipment designed to SPY ON TERRORISTS in order to keep surveilance on the festival population (a group of extremely peaceful people)? Convince me that Wakarusa did not know they were testing this equipment on us.

wakamcguire

Brett,
I understand that the original idea for the heightened security at Wakarusa 2006 was to keep us safe. However, why were steps not taken by Wakarusa to keep the environment and law enforcement friendly? I was hassled for 15 minutes by what can only be described as a redneck with a badge and I didn’t even have anything illegal on me or in my system.

djshawn

How strong is the possiblity that Wakarusa would look into moving onto private land versus simply closing up shop?

Obviously, the actions taken by law enforcement last year will be a deterrent for Waka 07, especially for those travelling across country. BUT…there are still many, many people from the midwest that have enjoyed each Waka and are more than willing to give it another shot. Hopefully, with more focus on fun and SAFETY….instead of law enforcement seeing the festival as an opportunity to see some action…

The_Original_Bob

Do you feel that Wakarusa is being sabotaged by Clinton Lake State Park or any other entity? Or do you feel this was just some bad miscommunication that unfortunately was reported without fact checking by a certain local newspaper?

WAKA06_Survivor

Is there a possibility of a venue change away from a state park in ’07?

DB

I’m curious to know just how many major arrests took place that weekend? And by “major” arrest I mean, arrests that led to the seizure of large amounts of an illegal substance, assaults, rapes, murder… I’m not interested in the unfortunate buyers of your “product” (the festival) who were cited for marijuana and alcohol related offenses.

And was the number of “major” arrests justified by the man power, tax money, and police force that was taken away from the rest of the city so a CAMPING festival could become a police state? I’ll help you out, there were 10,634 violent crimes commited in Kansas in 2005. Roughly 29 violent crimes per day; an average total of 87 violent crimes during your festival – were there even that many arrests made during the whole weekend of Wakarusa? I wonder if the citzens of Kansas felt safer knowing that the paying attendees of a music festival were sitting behind bars for victimless crimes?

Pauly

Have you had any post-event conversations with the police regarding whether or not this type of surveillance activity will happen again?

romeo

What were the reasons for the surveillance?

Wakarusasucks

Why would anyone go back to this fest knowing what they know now and how hard core the police are?

ryangetz

Brett, you just said:
“…We will work hard to be involved more in these areas in the future…”

That statement sounds promising in regards to the future of Wakarusa. So, does that clear up any concerns about the death Wakarusa?

pukky

what are the plans for next year?

WAKA06_Survivor

Brett- After setting an attendance record this year is Wakarusa prepared for the major boycott of the concert in ’07?

pukky

what do you plan on doing with wakarusa

Noweigh

brett…our city commission makes doing business here tough.
what is the economic impact of Wak. Fest. The chamber should be all over this. thanks.

romeo

i was on the roof of the so called building days before and never saw anyone else on there mccoy

irnmadn88

Is there any discussion on how to alleviate the traffic jam leading into the festival?

JohnnyBud

How do you suggest other promoters to avoid this situation in the future?

Pauly

I know that the infrastructure of the park is what allows for it to be such a great location for the festival. Have you had any indication from law enforcement that if the festival remains at the park, the surveillance will continue?

Wakarusasucks

what do you expect the police presence to be like at next year’s festival?

wakamcguire

Brett, do you feel that Wakarusa has suffered a blow in terms of how many people would be willing to travel across the country to this festival after everything “negative” that happened last year?

jackl2400

Any indication yet from law enforcement or the Park managers that they recognize that their high tech surveillance and “zero enforcement” enforcement strategy against pot smokers was possibly unethical and wasn’t related to safety?

Any plans for THEM to appear in a public forum and justify themselves?(thanks for your courage, Mr. Mosiman).

Or are they still crowing about having thwarted “dancing drug dealers” and the evil of drug use at music festivals through their over the top policing? Should fans and promoters just not hold or patronize festivals in “red states” like Kansas until their officials lighten up and stop trying to send culture war messages with heavy-handed law enforcement?

Wakarusasucks

this is a great answer:

“I should give some backround. We had found graffiti and the law enforcement officials had found cash and vehicles after year two. So the park and the festival concurred that increased enforcement was in order to make the festival safer/and more fun in the long run. Had we not made that determination the festival would have ended period. We still support the mission of getting rid of illegal profiteers. What we may have uncovered is that we differ on the methods. We hope to come to a reasonable compromise on that issue. In looking back, I think we would have been much better served to notify everyone that there were surveillance throughout the park and that would have accomplished the mission of chasing away the profiteers. Law enforcement chose to follow a different path.”

now, can you try answering the actual question: when did it “quickly become apparent that law enforcement’s primary mission wasn’t the safety of the festival goers?”

pukky

all good questions!

Wakarusasucks

will you have the festival at the same site if you can’t reach a reasonable compromise on the security methods used? didn’t you sign a 3 year agreement?

jackl2400

Any indication yet from law enforcement or the Park managers that they recognize that their high tech surveillance and “zero enforcement” enforcement strategy against pot smokers was possibly unethical and wasn’t related to safety?

Any plans for THEM to appear in a public forum and justify themselves?(thanks for your courage, Mr. Mosiman).

Or are they still crowing about having thwarted “dancing drug dealers” and the evil of drug use at music festivals through their over the top policing? Should fans and promoters just not hold or patronize festivals in “red states” like Kansas until their officials lighten up and stop trying to send culture war messages with heavy-handed law enforcement?

djshawn

Brett:first of all, thank you for so many good Waka memories the past 3 years, despite last year’s law enforcement problems.

Now, how do you propose to be able to curb such overzealous law enforcement presence next year? Clinton Lake is public land and if the government was willing to use so many departments of law enforcement this year, what power do you and the rest of the promotion staff have to cut back this negative presence? From what I saw this past year, I wouldn’t be suprised to see even more officers roaming the grounds next year. As far as they are concerned, they don’t succeed until every last one of us dirty, hippie festival and music loving kind folk are in handcuffs

hettywook420

I think you have already lost the majority of your fans that have attended wakarusa in the past or this year. Not only to the way people were treated from law enforcement, but some of the security you hired was also getting in on the fun of picking on people i think due to peer pressure. From an inside-out view, Id recommend a complete refresher on all security used this past year. I also find it very odd that you as a promotor and/or any of your staff had not a clue of this massive opperation including a trialer for surveilance(on the land youre supposed to have control of).. The fact that this can happen unwatched doenst really reasure the customer that they are being taken care of.

ryangetz

Brett, I mean honestly, why are you so good looking?!?!?!

(sorry im bored at work & waiting for sum answers to my other questions. this was to just catch your attention)

Bearpig

I know you stated that you first found out about high tech surveillance just recently. I heard rumors of night vision goggles being used during the first day of the festival from other concert goers. Did you hear any of these rumors and if so were any steps taken to resolve this issue?

Wheat_Thin

What can you tell us about your personal reaction to the police (for example, did you have any conflicts with the local sheriff)?

Bearpig

I know you stated that you first found out about high tech surveillance just recently. I heard rumors of night vision goggles being used during the first day of the festival from other concert goers. Did you hear any of these rumors and if so were they taken seriously?

Pauly

Did anybody notice the 2 advertisements at the bottom of this chat page are for infrared cameras and for thermal imaging cameras?!? lol Just a little ironic humor for a Friday afternoon.

kmat

“I also point out that you or anyone else hasn’t been to an outdoor ampitheater without getting your purse, blanket or backpack searched for the last couple of decades.”

It is true that your bag will be looked at and at some shows they do a quick pat down. I attend many shows and festivals every year and have never been treated as I was at your festival. There is a big difference between a quick look in a bag for weapons and a quick pat down, and being searched to the point where you’re wondering if they’re next going to do a cavity search. People ahead of us that looked like typical suburban folks were not treated in this way. How can you justify these searches as being ok and be willing to hold the festival again on public grounds knowing that the festival goers were unfairly treated in this way?

csbosox

I certainly was troubled to hear about the recent covert surveillance, but you put on a great festival and I hope it continues in the future.

bluzbill

well help me out here – are the shakedown street vendors licenced? many said they were and these were the one’s I saw losing inventory to LE.

ryangetz

Brett, do you personally follow the Wakarusa Forum? Many of us have been members since the 1st year (2004) and talk about Wakarusa daily. The future of Wakarusa has really come into question lately. Can you tell us yet if we can count on the festival happening at clinton Lake again next year?

WAKA06_Survivor

After setting an attendance record this year is Wakarusa prepared for a major boycott by regular festival goers?

planetwax

I normally avoid going to concerts since I find it repulsive that someone should search my purse, diaper/backpack, or what-have-you. My friend’s car was searched and two cans of Sam Adams beer was taken from them. Security left all the Budweiser in their cooler. So, I can only guess they didn’t want that. Next time, be sure to hire security without good taste in beer, eh?

TheRealDecider

I know for a FACT that The Flaming Lips will never play another Wakarusa Festival.

WAKA06_Survivor

I don’t care what you made! I want the festi to survive!

ryangetz

Brett, do you know of anyway or or you willing to help out with the issue of getting more/full disclosure on the complete extent of the police presence this year at Wakarusa?

Wakarusasucks

as you understand it, was the purpose of the police presence to deter illegal activity or to make as many busts as possible? If it was the former, why not be a visible presence? Wouldn’t that have detered more crime then waiting for a crim to occurr first and then busting the offending parties? seems to me like the police were there to make busts and not prevent crime.

Wakarusasucks

“I also understand that none of the surveillance has been used in any prosecutions either.”

How would these individuals have been arrested in the first place without that equipment?

Icetoad

After the issues that occurred in 2005, how did law enforcement approach you regarding increased presence from state and federal agencies?

WAKA06_Survivor

Thanks for chatting!

Moderator

Welcome Brett Mosiman,organizer of the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival.

Brett Mosiman

I’d like to thank the LJW for the opportunity to chat.

The_Original_Bob

Brett – Good afternoon. The one question that would clear up doubt in my mind… When did you know about the high tech spying equpiment? During the Festival, sometime after, or when you read about it a few days ago in the LJWorld? I will take as word that you had no prior knowledge.

Brett Mosiman

I personally found out about the hitech surveillance stuff when I read the article last friday.
I’d like to say though that we feel we should take responsibility for the everything that happens at Wakarusa. We will work hard to be involved more in these areas in the future. We see ourselves as stewards of a great event and take that very seriously.

alm77

I have two quesions for Brett. First, have you considered holding the festival on private property and hiring a security company like Bonaroo and Phish’s end-of-tour festivals?

Secondly, what are your plans to gain the trust and interest of fans once again?

Brett Mosiman

We have considered other sites and private sites but I’d like to point out that Wakarusa became the second or third biggest camping festival at this site for a reason. It’s a great great site and our first choice is to work thru these issues with the folks who had the vision to let it happen in the first place. We have also been working on our own securrity plan and that may very well include new security companies and procedures.
We hope by communicating directly with the fans they’ll know we always have their interest at heart. It’s why we are.

Wakarusasucks

Not one person on the festival staff saw the police or someone else installing these hidden cameras at the site in the days/weeks leading up to the fest?

Brett Mosiman

Actually there is so much going on I don’t think that seems as far fetched as it seems. When we found out about the security trailer – we all had seen it, I thought it was a communication post that I had been told about from KDOT and one of our staff thought it was a Lawrence Freenet post. So it didn’t occur to us to look for cameras or shadow the Law enforcement officials.
We have learned a lot from this experience and hope to continue to get better at what we do.

Wakarusasucks

when did it “quickly become apparent that law enforcement’s primary mission wasn’t the safety of the festival goers?”

Brett Mosiman

I should give some backround. We had found graffiti and the law enforcement officials had found cash and vehicles after year two. So the park and the festival concurred that increased enforcement was in order to make the festival safer/and more fun in the long run. Had we not made that determination the festival would have ended period. We still support the mission of getting rid of illegal profiteers. What we may have uncovered is that we differ on the methods. We hope to come to a reasonable compromise on that issue.
In looking back, I think we would have been much better served to notify everyone that there were surveillance throughout the park and that would have accomplished the mission of chasing away the profiteers. Law enforcement chose to follow a different path.

planetwax

Brett, It seems you’ve bitten the hand that feeds you. Knowledge about the equipment used on the grounds gives me a sick feeling for everyone, regardless of any criminal intent. You’ve become “big brother” watching over us and using our music as a way of character profiling our behavior. You can rationalize spying on your neighbors all you want, but we know it’s really about your bottom line. Part of the problem is that concert-goers are willing to be subjected to such rude treatment. Pay over a hundred dollars for a weekend show and then submit to being searched. We LET this happen.

Brett Mosiman

First, I despise profiling – which I think went on here to an extent. Second, we didn’t use or condone the use of the equipment. I have stated before that I think it was unecessary nor justified. Keep in mind that we do this at the pleasure of the park and they too feel like we have bitten the hand that feeds. We walk a tight rope to keep all parties happy. This clearly did not help our bottom line. I also point out that you or anyone else hasn’t been to an outdoor ampitheater without getting your purse, blanket or backpack searched for the last couple of decades.

DB

The fifteenth item in the Kansas Bill of Rights states that, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons and property against unreasonable searches and seizures shall be inviolate; and no warrant shall issue but on probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or property to be seized. ”

My question is this: In your opinion, Mr. Mosiman, were these rights upheld by the overbearing police force during Wakarusa?

Brett Mosiman

I am not a lawyer. I do not know if legal rights were broken. I do know that for most Americans actions like this don’t sit well and don’t pass the smell test. This is a societal issue and if you are uncomffortable with these kind of things -0 don’t complain about it, do something about it. Write, vote and raise hell.

Wheat_Thin

Is there any way, realistically, for fans to come from out-of-state and assure they won’t be ‘profiled’ on the way in?

Brett Mosiman

I have to admit that law enforcement around the country has deemed that you and these festivals are “low hanging fruit.” The good news is that after 5 days, hundreds of officers and lots of equipment; I am unaware of any major cash siezures or felony convictions. Bottom line, they figured out that this is a calm, peaceful courteous crowd that is there to have a great time not break the laws or ruin society.
Answer, I would think LE would move to greener pastures like people who hurt others.

The_Original_Bob

Waka takes a lot of planning. Have you started planning for next year and if so, how has this affected your plans?

Brett Mosiman

We actually have notes throughout the event for the following year. We have been in planning since. This controversy has been a distraction but we hope it hasn’t hindered what should be an incredible event next year.

oldgoof

Has the Kansas Highway Patrol yet responded to the Open Records Request detailing the amounts spent on this drug dragnet?

Brett Mosiman

I am totally unfamiliar with this issue. Don’t know.

bluzbill

Brett – it became apparent that the state park’s “no glass” policy was being abused by law enforcement officers to confiscate glass ware from vendors. Why was this allowed to happen? I am sure that every other weekend of the year that just means no bottles. Did you not have any control over what was happening on-site?

Brett Mosiman

Actually no we didn’t have much say there. The park and law enforcement makes the decisions on what priorities they will
key on. I do think that unlicensed vending was a key issue for the park and the glass issue had more to do with that. This is an area we hope to visit with officials about. I think there can be a compromise here. We get visitors from all 50 staes and many are not aware of some of the special nuances of the rules they will face.

logrithmic

According to the Lawrence Journal World article of June 12, titled “Police Presence Dampened Festival Campers Say,” your spokesperson, Heather Lofflin, was aware of the “heavy police presence,” and said “we have to support the police: the police have been here for people in trouble as well:.” She went on to say that instead of focusing on the police, people “should be focusing on the music.” Interesting that you now claim to have been unaware of this “heavy police presence.” Also I’m aware that TV and newspaper reports pointed this “heavy police presence” out. Please explain how you could be unaware.

Brett Mosiman

There has been several attempts to clarify that we did know of increased law enforcement presence. In fact, we supported that and have said so throughout. We simply did not know of their methods. We had no idea they were privy to this free technology. We didn’t see it because we weren’t looking for it.

WAKA06_Survivor

Have any sponsors pulled out of the next festival? Also have any artist expressed to you that they will not play the festival in ’07?

Brett Mosiman

No this has not effected either of those areas and hopefully it won’t. We look at the sponsors as partners and there are lots of great things planned for the future like a sustainability village and speakers on conservation etc. They support these kind of things. As for bands, Wakarusa is a special event for them to play to their fans in a unique environment and that won’t change. We like to say, Wakarusa is a festival for music fans by music fans and we think that gives it a very different feel from most events.

jackl2400

Can the police point to any instance where the high-tech equipment solved a crime of violence of the festival that we would all agree is a crime and would have justified such surveillance, such as people stealing from other folk’s tents or cars? Or was it all just about cracking down on victimless crime like drug sales and use?

Brett Mosiman

I am not personally aware of any instances such as you speak. Could have happened but I am unaware. I also understand that none of the surveillance has been used in any prosecutions either.

TheRealDecider

Would you care to go on record and tell everyone how much you profited on this year’s festival?

Brett Mosiman

The festival was profitable this year and we are very proud of that. We lost several hundred thousnad dollars our first year but it was apparent that Wakarusa was a very special event that deserved to continue. We think that today.

Noweigh

Brett,
The Wakarusa Festival is another reason Lawrence is such a popular draw for tourists and visitors from all across the country. Please respond with the economic impact the festival has for local merchants. The chamber of commerce should be all over this. Doing business in Lawrence is tough enough already. Wakarusa Festival seems to be a real help to merchants in a tough market.

Brett Mosiman

Wakarusa did fill the hotel rooms in town and does obviously have a multi-million dollar impoact on the whole KS economy. Further, it benefits dozens of charity and NFP organizations. It is without a doubt a great event for Lawrence and KS.

Wheat_Thin

Have you thought about taking ’07 off? (One of the major UK festivals does this). Would this allow time for a thorough examination of what went wrong this year and for the park and community to realize the potential loss of income?

Brett Mosiman

Great question. We have discussed moving, moving to private land, moving from KS, and taking time off. Our desire is to work with the officials in the state that have had the vision to give Wakarusa a great home. If that for some reason doesn’t go well, then we will investigate all of the above. Hopefully the support in the community will allow for leaders & politicians to realize what they would be turning their back on.

Moderator

Thanks to Brett Mosiman for chatting. Any final thoughts on the festival, Brett?

Brett Mosiman

I thank everyone for their questions and for caring. Wakarusa became one of the country’s three largest camping festivals by doing a lot of things right. The learning curve is steep when you become that popular that quickly. We feel as if we are constantly learning and work hard to make Wakarusa a better experience each year. We thank everyone for their support and understanding as we continue to work toward fixing our mistakes and getting better at what we do.