The ACT government and the police have welcomed a full review of Summernats security, with the Chief Police Officer concerned about a "lack of communication" that led to an aggravation of incidents on Canberra's streets during this year's festival.
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Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez has flagged a future "zero-tolerance approach" to the type of dangerous and highly disruptive behaviour which led to the cruise route being shut down on the Saturday afternoon, and indicated some of the behaviour was fuelled by alcohol and drugs.
He said he had engaged a company that specialises in crowd and safety management systems as part of his security review, and indicated drug sniffer dogs may be deployed, if warranted and permitted.
A record 125,000 people attended the four-day modified car festival this year.
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Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said in the wake of the closure of the internal cruise route at Summernats, thousands of people left the event immediately afterward and descended on Braddon and other areas and "we [police] weren't prepared for that".
"If that information [about the cruise route closure] had been conveyed to us in a timely manner, we would have responded differently," Deputy Commissioner Gaughan said.
"We have already started conversations with Summernats organisers about that and we will make sure that next time we don't have the same problem.
"Overall, 90 per cent of the people in that facility behave themselves and have a good time.
"The 10 per cent of boofheads, we will manage that going forward."
He was not supportive of deploying drug sniffer dogs to check cars and patrons.
"That's a matter for the organisers; we won't be putting sniffer dogs up there," he said.
He believed the event was "much better organised now" but there were still "lessons to be learned from both sides as to how we can manage the event better next time".
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was significant Summernats was doing an extensive review of security procedures at the event in the wake of the issues which arose this year.
"What Andy [Lopez] and his team over the past 10 years has improved the event significantly," he said.
"From where it was to where it is now, I want to acknowledge is a significant improvement.
"But there's still a long way to go and I'm pleased that he [Mr Lopez] acknowledges that.
"There's only a small number of people who are effectively ruining the event for others and causing the difficulty we are talking about.
"Clearly there needs to be further measures to address the poor behaviour of a tiny minority and I'm pleased they are conducting that review.
"The conversation clearly has to be led by Summernats; it's a private event, they need to include some elements of their security and crowd management; they know that.
"We look forward to hearing the outcomes of their review."
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