The rise of the ‘hatecrasher’

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMe8OYi0c_4] Young. Strong. Spiteful. Vicious. Terrifying. When it comes to gatecrashers, I’ve seen it all. But now I’m witnessing a new level of violence – fuelled by a blind, searing hatred of everyone and everything. This disturbing shift is so pronounced, I’m calling these intruders ‘hatecrashers’. This word isn’t in any dictionary. But if…

Crash tackle

Moon madness Last Saturday night kept me and my staff very busy. I’m not sure what the moon was doing, but every party we handled had issues. Problems that would’ve turned very ugly had security not been present Ironically, the alcohol-free events were the most difficult. This was because gatecrashers targeted both. You wouldn’t believe…

Who pays the mortgage?

The things people say! Here are things parents commonly say before a teen party. Along with the reality. ‘We know them; they’re all nice boys.’ Then they drink. ‘The kids will be okay in the pool while they drink.’ Then we have two broken noses and a brawl at the end of the night. ‘Our…

What price peace?

Another party went feral last week. This time in the well-heeled Melbourne suburb of Kew. The host parent had called me earlier, but baulked at my $500 quote for full event security. When I sent one of my staff to watch the night go off the rails, he saw plenty more than $500 worth of…

Your taxes at work

Even when I warned him his party would spiral out of control, a Wheelers Hill kid ignored my advice and held a party last weekend. As I predicted, it turned ugly. And the emergency services response cost tax payers (you and me) a small fortune. Words of warning The boy rang me last Thursday to…

Violence ain’t ‘senseless’

We hear a lot about ‘senseless violence’. But when kids get injured at parties, it’s not the violence that’s senseless. It’s the parents. With prior planning, parties needn’t suffer any violence. To me, ‘senseless’ is someone stabbing you in the street. Car accidents aren’t senseless. Most are due to speed, alcohol, fatigue or other driver…

All the Wrong Moves

  There’s a right way and a wrong way. The wrong way costs MUCH more. Girl Talk A young girl rang and asked if I could provide crowd control for an after-formal party for 400 teens in an inner-Melbourne factory area. She couldn’t believe I was concerned when she told me: The school didn’t want…

Kids Rule?!

I was asked to look after an 18th birthday in an Eastern suburb. BYO alcohol and 140 guests. As I always do before assigning staff to an event, I met the parents several days beforehand. I inspected the property and noted some issues: Open pool in the party area. Neighbouring properties close by. Small backyard…