Post
by usurpedus » Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:54 pm
theres some good info on here, but theres still some misconceptions. i know two people who have had direct experience getting arrested at BM so ill try to share some points i remember.
its my understanding that BM festival area is a zero tolerance area.
you guys keep saying "dont be stupid", "avoid people you dont know" blah blah blah. its more than that, and the people that have gotten in trouble werent being necessarily stupid. picture meeting a cool guy or girl monday and spending several days together.. basically a playa boyfriend/girlfriend more or less. that can be an undercover. i know someone who got busted by someone at the end of the burn by someone they thought they had come to know. he wasnt being stupid, the undercover was just able to get past that first line of defense against dealing with an undercover.
i have another friend that was asked by two undercover girls, after a night of dancing together, to smoke a joint with them. he also got arrested, for smoking their weed. and no its not entrapment unless a police office gets you to go out of your way to do something you wouldnt normally do.
aside from what the person involved with the arrest might have done, know that their camp will also get searched. and this search could lead to much much more serious arrests, to people that were being extremely careful. so be aware of this as i know of people who got arrested because their belongings were searched once the police entered their camp because they now had probably cause.
this past year as someone mentioned BLM hired additional security personnel, basically high level rent a cops. the BLM can hear everything going on over ranger radio. but my point is that theres a much larger LEO presence than previous years.
if you get arrested you will be immediately taken to a holding area kinda by the gate. they will treat you like shit. they will not allow you to get anything from your camp, like an id, credit card to be able to buy a bus ride home, nothing. if youre busted wearing a g string, thats what you're going to be taken into custody with. theyll take you to pershing county prison, which is about a 2 hour ride from BM, east of reno. its terrible. if you are arrested in the middle of the night youll be handcuffed till the morning when a transport is ready. the only thing youll get a good sense of is how extensive their undercover network is, as they crack jokes about all the ravers and druggies.
once you get to pershing youll be booked and theyll set bail. if you get arrested before the weekend theres a good chance youll get to see a judge the following day. if you get arrested during the weekend the earliest you will likely be able to see the judge is tuesday, to be arraigned. during this time youll get your one phonecall but if your close friends/family are on the playa, its kinda fucked because your camp wont be told where youre being taken. you can call a family member and ask them to contact a bail bondsmen, otherwise youre going to wait till tuesday or wednesday. again, because youre separated from your camp this can cause huge problems for them getting off playa. or if you drove to bm alone, could pose some issues with your car being stuck back out there. its really really difficult.. again especially if you hav mo credit card or id. even if you have a family member bailed out, youre basically stuck outside pershing county jail with no resources or way to get home.
im starting to ramble now.. i just wanted to give some insight into what its like being arrested, and especially that it can be much more difficult than you think to avoid undercovers or slipping up and giving in to a request from someone that youve known on playa for what you think is a safe amount of time.
please feel free to ask any questions if you have any, ill do my best to answer them.
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This made my day, perfect incongruity!
(((-ducking-))) 
