Lauren King
The Virginian-Pilot
©
HAMPTON
Police arrested almost 200 people – most of them on narcotics charges – over the three days the jam band Phish performed at Hampton Coliseum this weekend.
There were 81 felony arrests resulting in 119 charges and 113 misdemeanor arrests resulting in 126 charges, according to the Hampton Police Division. Police also issued 46 criminal summonses.
The arrests amounted to a “very, very small percentage” of the estimated 50,000 people who were in and around the Coliseum over the course of the weekend, said police spokeswoman Cpl. Allison Quiñones.
“We didn’t have any major problems at all,” she said. “It was very smooth.”
Quiñones also noted that police weren’t expecting many problems from the band’s fans.
“It’s been several years since they’ve played in the city,” she said. “But we’ve never really had any major problems.”
The narcotics arrests include charges related to marijuana, cocaine, heroin , Ecstasy and various prescription drugs, Quiñones said. Police seized more than $1.2 million worth of drugs and more than $68,000 in cash during the arrests.
Police estimate that about 17,000 people per day attended the three shows, including those who didn’t have tickets but wandered outside the Coliseum. Phish is known for its following of thousands of fans, many of whom tag along as the band moves from venue to venue.
Investigative agencies working at the shows included Hampton, Poquoson and Newport News police departments; NCIS; DEA; Virginia State Police; ABC; the Army's Criminal Investigations Division (CID); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations; and the Hampton Sheriff’s Office.
Friday marked the band’s first show in five years, which drew thousands to Hampton. Once all three shows were sold out, tickets were selling for as much as $1,000 each.
City officials had warned that undercover police officers would be patrolling the parking lots, and they were.
Leading up to the Hampton shows, the band attempted to get permission to seize suspected bootleggers’ property outside the Coliseum. Although a federal judge in Norfolk ruled that the band could not seize the property, Hampton police and Coliseum security guards checked vendors’ licenses and kept them in an overflow lot.
Quiñones said there were few problems with vendors this weekend, largely because they were forewarned.
Measured by the number of arrests per day, this weekend’s shows went more smoothly than some other times Phish has played in Hampton Roads in the past.
The last time the band played a one-night show at the Coliseum, in 2004, police arrested more than 100 people, according to a Daily Press story from the time. When they played in 1998 at what is now the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater, police arrested 136.
Pilot writer Lauren King and Pilot news researcher Jakon Hays contributed to this story.
Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com
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Phish Phan from Hampton
As was said, the amount of arrests equals 4/1000. This wasn't a drug story, by far, and I assure you, there were probably more drug arrests in a single Hampton Roads city in a single day than the total number of arrests at the Coliseum the entire weekend. I'm a 21 year old Phish fan and lifelong Hampton resident, and I was at the Coliseum every day during the event, mostly the entire day and night. For those who weren't even out there who are criticizing the band, the fans and the entire event, for once have your own voice instead of following what the media says. The event was a blast. It was about art, it was about music, it was about escaping the monstrous hassles and disappointments that are thrown on us constantly in everyday life; it was about peace and enjoyment - it wasn't about drugs. This event was highly welcomed by the city of Hampton, as it brought in much needed revenue, and we hope and WILL see Phish's return to the city. The Hampton Coliseum is THEIR venue. The only bad concerning the Phish concert and festivities derives from those people who make a fuss over the very small drug related crimes that took place. There were no deaths. There was no violence. In my mind
This is funny: "The police
This is funny:
"The police did the right thing, they enforced the laws of the community, think about that the next time a crack head is trying to kick down your door and your trying to get to the phone"
Suuure buddy. Those nasty Phishheads and their crack. I was at those Dead shows that you mentioned. There were business men, lawyers, teens, and every other type of person or profesional at the shows.
To attack the audience and/or the groups involved is an attack on the community itself. We are the Grateful Dead and Phish. Think of the sheer numbers nationwide it took to sell out the shows of these 2 groups for so many years. I am proud Phish picked Hampton.
Have any of you people even
Have any of you people even known that Phish was coming to VA if you did not read the paper? How much did you really get affected by these drug reports? Really, there were many drugs there, however, did it hurt you at all??????? The Phish scene is a bunch of peaceful hippies who love their kind. Get over it, Phish will be back again too!!
"If PHISH was a RAP group this story would be on news 24/7."
You're absolutely right, Epsiloid. It would be plastered all over the news for days, while they interviewed the families of the 5 shooting victims from 3 separate incidents in the parking lot, then the grieving mothers of the poor "good boy" that the police shot when he aimed at them after capping the brother that dissed him. Then they'd get jailhouse interviews from the other thugs who "just came for a good time". Then ther'ed be a day or two of some offended city councilman from Norfolk screaming that the cops are all racists. Yep, it would generate a LOT more news.
Shift in sales
I guess all that drug activity in the parking lot of the coliseum left the dealers in the east end of NN feeling left out for the weekend!
To: randyl64390
You ask: "What was the total cost of having this group preform for three days, including police and court costs?"
Well, the band themselves paid for the 200 extra police on the scene. And, according to the The Daily Press:
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"The local economic effect from the band's three-day rock concert reunion at Hampton Coliseum was estimated to be about $5 million for everything from the cost of hotel rooms to restaurant meals and retail-store sales, said Ryan LaFata, a spokesman for Hampton Convention & Visitor Bureau.
The new estimate is $7million to $8million, although official numbers are still being calculated, LaFata said.
Just how much is that?
Imagine if the Hampton Jazz Festival went on for a week and a half or two weeks, and that's how much was brought into local businesses, LaFata said."
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So, to answer your question...it didn't cost Hampton AT ALL to have Phish in town.
Our Tax Dollars at Work ?
I never cease to be amazed at the hypocritical selectivity of the "War on Drugs". While I am certainly not advocating drug use, why are alcohol and tobacco legal while drugs that are less addictive and dangerous are felonies to possess? The "War on Drugs" is in fact a "War to Provide Employment". Why are our tax dollars used this way? The existence of entire agencies of Law Enforcement would be meaningless if drugs were decriminalized. No drug dealers would violently defend their riches if drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, were heavily taxed and regulated. The "War on Drugs" is not preventing damage to individuals, or society. It is defending profit. If we want to stop the dangers and damage of drugs in this country the solution is simple - take the profit out of drugs. Police Officers can focus on violent crime, theft and abuse of our children. Drug dealers would have to get their slimy selves a real job. The time has come for true freedom once again. THAT would be something worth fighting and dying for - freedom to choose what we put into our bodies and how each of us live our lives. Freedom is not just for things society agrees with. Freedom is for everything – or nothing at al
Don't blame the entertainers
I disagree with any comment that is an attack on the band itself. They were here to entertain. The police were prepared, there was no one hurt. The news estimated that Hampton made $5million dollars. I know we had contractors coming in that could not get a hotel anywhere in Hampton. There is always some sort of bad element, but IMHO this was a benefit to the community and we need to bring more headliners. The police were aptly ready and got some dealers of the street, Hampton businesses made some good profit.
Pilot sinks to a new low compared to the New York Times Article
Just goes to show that the front page of the NYT Arts section had a glowing story about the bands return with their first venue being the Hampton Coliseum. Quite a compliment for our region to a worldly audience of intelligent readers.
The Pilots' take. List it in the "Crime and News" section online and headline the arrest's on the front page and not mention one positive thing about the entire event. Shame on the lame editors of this paper that has gone to shambles.
Think about it. Phish is one of the most popular bands in history since the Greatful Dead (which also played the coliseum) and for the Coliseum to be their first choice to return after a 4+ year hiatus to have a 3 day sold out event with folks attending from all over the country and world and it's treated on the front page as a crime scene by the idiots at the editors desks at the Pilot.
The PHISH that should have gotten away
194 arests, over a million dollars in drugs siezed. The local government in Hampton should have let this PHISH get away. Why do we bring problem groups to this area? It's not freedom of speech, their records and videos are still on sale. What was the total cost of haveing this group preform for three days, Including police and court costs. I hope this is taken into consideration before they are allowed to come to this area again.