Summer Camp festival has history of multiple arrests...

Well, if you read the article which will be posted following the conclusion of the Midwest's official start of the summer (or at least for those in the Midwest who proudly declare their allegiance to the "scene") - Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, IL over Memorial Day weekend - you will see just once again how much that area (Peoria County) counts on the Festival - whether they like/will admit it or not - relies on the Festival and the arrests which will inevitably come out of it to help (financially) support the local economy (see the ending of the article posted below!). By now, it's kind-of expected by the locals that they will see car after car after car of young people, many times - but not always - with out of state plates, pulled over along Rte. 29 (the main road leading to the Festival grounds that runs through the town there). But, to really get an idea of how this is "expected" by the town and the attendees alike at this point...read on!

By Matt Buedel

CHILLICOTHE - The sightings will be inevitable. Later this week, along the shoulder of Illinois Route 29, vehicles with out-of-state license plates will be stopped, the red and blue strobes of sirens behind them, their contents splayed along the roadside.

The scenario along the highway - the only route to Three Sisters Park and the tent city erected every year over the Memorial Day holiday weekend for tens of thousands of revelers who attend the Summer Camp Music Festival - has become as much of a ritual for the first weekend of summer as a backyard barbecue.

In some law enforcement circles, the event has earned the nickname "Felony Fest" for the sheer volume and variety of illegal substances it draws, and that reputation in part has led to the increased roadside attention. Yet the arrests that go along with the festival are only a small part of the overall atmosphere, those familiar with it are quick to point out.

"With those numbers, no matter what the event, you're always going to have a bad element coming in," said Chillicothe Police Chief Scott Mettille, who will be intricately involved in enforcement actions for his second year as chief in the host city.

In his previous role as assistant chief with the Peoria Heights Police Department, Mettille dealt mostly with Summer Camp in terms of those who passed through town on the way to the concerts.
Memorial Day weekend 2012 was his first as chief in Chillicothe and his first direct foray onto the festival grounds.

His initial reaction to the open drug use at the park was a desire to make more arrests, but reality soon tempered that idea. There simply isn't enough manpower to take all those people into custody for what most of the time would amount to an ordinance violation.

"I don't mean to say were accepting of it," Mettille said. "But we're making it the best workable situation that we can."

Still, there is no mistaking that Mettille and other law enforcement officials bolster their ranks for the weekend in anticipation of the public safety needs associated with such a large gathering of people and the amount of illicit chemicals that arrive along with them.

All Chillicothe officers will be on hand for the weekend, working the park grounds and extra patrols in the city. They will be assisted by deputies with the Peoria County Sheriff's Office, troopers from the Illinois State Police and agents with the Multi-County Narcotics Enforcement Group (MEG).

MEG Director Rene Sandoval said his agents will concentrate on covert operations on the parks grounds, searching out those who bring large quantities of controlled substances to sell.

"There's a lot of good people who attend Summer Camp, but there's some people out there to profit from illicit drug sales," he said. "That's why we're there."

Route 29, the one road that all Summer Campers must at some point drive, also will be heavily patrolled for traffic infractions and drug possession.

"We're not stereotyping or anything like that, but we do go by experience," said Peoria Heights Police Chief Dustin Sutton, whose territory includes a section of the highway that thousands of festival-goers must pass from the south to reach the park grounds.

"We're not that naive to believe we're out there just for traffic arrests," he added. "The fact is those traffic stops do evolve into more - not all the time, but a lot of the time."

And the drug arrests do add up. Between a handful of police agencies in Peoria County patrolling around the festival grounds and covert drug agents working within the crowds, 235 people ostensibly connected to Summer Camp have been arrested and sent to jail on drug charges over the last five Memorial Day weekends.

A Journal Star analysis has found that 151 of those cases - or 64 percent of the total number arrested on drug charges ranging from misdemeanor marijuana possession to felony controlled substance possession and distribution - have resulted in convictions.

Most of those convictions produced sentences that combined terms of probation, usually about two years, with treatment, community service and fines. Some Summer Campers received as little as six months of supervision. One man received six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Peoria County State's Attorney Jerry Brady called those outcomes the products of "adequate scrutiny in terms of charging."

Just as police agencies will call in extra officers to handle the crowds, Brady's office, too, will staff additional prosecutors over the weekend to review cases, including the chief of charging, Steve Patelli. Brady keeps a close eye on the festival, as well.

"I feel it's my responsibility to understand what activities are taking place in Peoria County so I'm aware when there is a basis for closer scrutiny of criminal charges," Brady said.

Of the 235 people arrested for drugs in or near Summer Camp in the last five years, 63 were never charged with a crime after being released from jail. Overall, that represents 27 percent of detainees who ended up on the booking sheet, though an indeterminate amount of additional minor drug arrests are not included in those figures.

Officers in Peoria Heights and Chillicothe have the discretion to write ordinance violation tickets for possession of drug paraphernalia and anything less than an ounce of marijuana, and those citations are not reflected in the totals gleaned from jail and courthouse records.

Mettille said he prefers that approach when possible because it leads to the best outcome under the circumstances.

"If you give people the opportunity (to be honest) and treat them with respect, a majority give it right back to the officers," Mettille said. "If you do it the right way, things can end good all the way around."

The cases examined by the Journal Star were limited to Peoria County, though Illinois State Police and other local agencies in neighboring counties also have seen an influx of Summer Camp-related drug arrests from traffic stops in their jurisdictions.

One trend in Peoria County did emerge. The ratio of arrests to charges exhibited a large swing from year to year and showed generally that the more drug arrests that were made, the higher the percentage that were not charged.

Over the course of the festival in 2008, for example, a total of 17 people were arrested for drug crimes and booked into Peoria County Jail. Four of those individuals were never charged. In 2012, police booked 65 people into the jail on drug charges, but 28 never faced formal charges in a courtroom. Brady said the 2012 figures were due in part to arrests related to synthetic materials that were later determined not to be controlled substances by lab tests.

Law enforcement officials appeared to have built the most successful cases in 2010, when only four people of the 50 booked into jail for drugs did not eventually face charges.

Of the 172 cases in the last five years that were charged, only 10 have been dismissed, while 11 more remain unresolved, some because the out-of-town defendants did not return for court proceedings.

Of the 151 people convicted in the last five years, 53 have received treatment as part of their
sentence. A total of 2,635 hours of community service have been ordered performed, and fines and fees worth $361,947 have been ordered paid.

While those figures do carry weight, law enforcement authorities said they represent only half the story and do not necessarily represent the main priority of police. Brady said the top objective is safety.

"My concerns are the large numbers of people and the potential for drug-related medical issues," he said. "That's my primary focus, and second is the enforcement."

By the numbers...

The Journal Star analyzed drug arrests from Thursday through Monday of the last five Memorial Day weekends to check the disposition of Summer Camp Music Festival drug arrests in Peoria County.

Out of more than 270 overall drug arrests, 235 appeared to have been related to the festival based on characteristics such as home addresses, the nature of the charges and the lack of local criminal histories. Below are other numbers related to the disposition of the arrests.

- 235: People booked into Peoria County Jail on drug charges ostensibly related to the festival.

- 172: Number arrested who were eventually charged with a drug crime.

- 151: Convictions from those charged.

- 11: Cases still unresolved.

- 10: Cases dismissed.

- 53: Number of those convicted who have been ordered to undergo treatment as part of their sentence.

- 2,635: Hours of community service ordered as part of sentences.

- $361,947: Fines and fees ordered to be paid by those convicted.


Read more: http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1160895783/Summer-Camp-festival-has-history-of-multiple-arrests#ixzz2ZWztzDOV