Private firms are fining Dutch festival goers caught with drugs

Festival organisers are turning to private security firms to check visitors for drugs and issue fines as local councils impose a zero-tolerance drugs policy, the NRC reported on Friday.

ThinkTwice, a security firm set up by former policemen, used 11 festivals as a testing ground, and issued 250 fines last year.  It will be working at least six festivals this year, the paper said.

Local councils, police and the public prosecution office are happy about outsourcing police tasks to the private firm, citing less pressure on police, a fall in drug use and no costs. The festival organisers pay ThinkTwice and receive over half of the fine money while ThinkTwice keeps the rest.

However, according to the NRC, festival goers are being used as guinea pigs in an experiment with private policing. All have signed to agree with ThinkTwice’s conditions when buying their tickets but, the paper said, few are reading the small print.

That small print includes ThinkTwice’s authority to issue fines in case they are found to have drugs and those who have been caught must sign a statement to that effect.

The organisation denies it puts pressure on people who refuse to sign, for instance by saying they will be turned over to the police or face a visit from a bailiff to pay for any damage done to the festival organisers.

The advantage of being caught by ThinkTwice instead of the police is that the perpetrator will not end up with a criminal record, which may, in some cases, have implications for certain jobs.

But according to professor of criminal procedure law Joep Lindeman, there is no choice to be made between a private fine and a criminal record. “The prosecution department does not usually take people carrying small amounts of drugs to court and ThinkTwice should not frighten people into thinking that it will,” he told the paper.

Lindeman said he wondered if festival goers have the presence of mind to weigh their interests. It is also unclear if the fines are proportional to the amounts of drugs found, he said. Some fines can be as high as €600. “You’d want a lawyer at your side,” he said.

“Local councils are outsourcing tasks that were originally carried out by the police. Private policing can be a solution but it needs clear parameters,” Lindeman said. “Festivals are being turned into a testing ground for private policing, which does not have to abide by normal police rules and operates without supervision? Who intervenes when things go wrong?”