Police: Security at weekend rave comparable to New Year’s Eve

By Jackie Valley

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 | 1:55 a.m.

Metro Police hope to weed out problem attendees early at the Electric Daisy Carnival music festival making its Las Vegas debut this weekend.

"Our stance is going to be very little tolerance," Metro spokesman Jay Rivera said. "If we remove someone early on, we're avoiding the problem later on."

Authorities expect 85,000 people to descend upon the Las Vegas Motor Speedway each day for the festival, which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday from dusk to dawn.

A "very large contingent of officers" will be on hand, including undercover officers, mounted patrols and police inside and outside the venue, Rivera said.

Metro enforcement will be similar to how police patrol New Year's Eve on the Las Vegas Strip, Rivera said. Officers at the festival will be working overtime, paid for by the promoters of the event, Insomniac LLC.

"This will have no effect whatsoever on normal, day-to-day operations," he said of police patrols elsewhere in the city.

The promoter also has hired its own security and will be using scanning devices to ensure concertgoers' IDs are legitimate, Rivera said. The Electric Daisy Carnival is open to people 18 years and older, with tickets starting at $100.

"We anticipate this is going to be a successful event," Rivera said. "This promoter has been very good about sitting down and talking with us and addressing our concerns."

The Las Vegas event comes after recent troubles at similar raves across the country.

Andrew Graf, 19, died and more than two dozen people were treated at hospitals for drug, alcohol and heat-related problems after the Electric Daisy Carnival in Dallas on Saturday, officials there said. The cause of death was pending toxicology results.

The rave was shunned in Los Angeles last year following a 15-year-old girl's fatal drug overdose. That party also resulted in more than 226 people receiving emergency medical treatment and 114 arrests for misconduct, drug possession and other charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.