16-year-old Sophie* attends a gathering at a friend’s house at 4 pm. Sophie drinks a bottle of vodka while the host parents party elsewhere on the property – not caring what’s happening in their home. Sophie passes out. Her eyes roll back. Her breathing becomes laboured. Her friends become distressed and wonder if they should…
Nasty Surprise After my recent one-hour interview with the Member for Doncaster, Mary Wooldridge, it was discovered that the secondary supply law due to come into effect in Feb 2012 will NOT include BYO alcohol at teen parties. In my experience of planning and protecting 700 teen events, most problems have been with drinks brought…
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…
Last weekend in sunny Adelaide, an ambulance attended a party to treat a girl who’d sustained a (probably alcohol-related) injury: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/teen-struck-by-car-after-running-from-ambulance/story-e6frea83-1226012328983 As this girl was being treated, she ran onto the road and got hit by a car, whereupon the party guests began abusing the paramedics. Based on my experiences as a police officer, security…
I can’t say enough about the duty of care of parents who host parties. Here’s yet another report of a party turned to crap (courtesy of Police News): ‘Police are appealing for information after a party turned ugly at Carrum Downs last Thursday night. At about 10.30pm on 20 January a group of people turned…
Your teen party questions answered. For free! I’ve written plenty of blog posts about parties gone wrong. Today I have some good news! Last month I founded Safe Partying Australia: a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to keeping our kids safe by implementing my Safe Event Laws Proposal. Today I’m launching a national online support service for…
Last Friday was the party from hell. 140 volatile 16 year olds in a tiny house. With a pool! From 8 to 10 pm, we seized 50 assorted alcohol containers that guests had strapped to themselves. We were able to spot these on the boys, but the girls hid their booze under their skirts. Fortunately,…
On Saturday night I had a security team looking after an 18th birthday near Berwick (in Melbourne’s outer east). The event, for 70 guests, was on a big property on an unmade road. My crew initially controlled BYO alcohol entering the property by helping parents organise a central bar and serve all drinks in plastic…
Saturday night’s party showed why crowd control is a delicate and volatile yet necessary affair. At 9.30 pm I spotted four males sitting on a fence, six houses up from my client’s. All were drinking and using their mobile phones. In my experience, when people hang round like this, it’s time to disperse and move…
Last night my team and I were scheduled to look after a party in a wealthy suburb. The event had been extremely well planned and my client had wisely followed all my prior advice. Then, around midday, I heard a disturbing rumour. It seemed a 17-year-old local boy had planned a party in the rental…