Green Police

[Completewasters]

Are the Green Police an effective tool or are they just for show?

did anyone moderate their behaviour (or got the impression others did) due to the presence of the Boys and Girls in green?

Do any members of the green constabulary on here feel they made a difference or where they just out for a good time?

cheers...

(it would be nice to do a poll but the OP always seem to miss an important option and i think just an either/or poll isn't that useful)

[tilt]

Pretty useless from what I've seen (sadly).

They just don't have any power, a whistle and attempting to embarrass people is hardly going to solve anything.

Pissing in hedges (or simply on the floor, in a crowd, in front of a stage - as I saw on three separate occasions) should be classed as anti-social behaviour and lead to ejection from the festival IMO.

[sselma]

They used to march around making their presence felt, but not so much in recent years, perhaps to do with the number of people in the main arenas

[Completewasters]

Are the Green Police an effective tool or are they just for show?

did anyone moderate their behaviour (or got the impression others did) due to the presence of the Boys and Girls in green?

Do any members of the green constabulary on here feel they made a difference or where they just out for a good time?

cheers...

(it would be nice to do a poll but the OP always seem to miss an important option and i think just an either/or poll isn't that useful)

Edited June 28, 2011 by Completewasters

[musky]

They used to march around making their presence felt, but not so much in recent years, perhaps to do with the number of people in the main arenas

[Hotfoxy]

Looking out for the green police were one of my 9 year olds highlights.. (Strange i know!)

We didnt see hardly any, except for Stone circle on sat night running up the hill blowing whistles.. She was happy with that!

Strange girl.

[Leedspete]

Met a couple of them, one was just sitting in West Holts, the other was a nice Aussie lad who gave us one of the cigarette holders, which I always use. It was in exchange for a £2 donation this year, am I right in thinking they've been free before? Might be why not many people use them if so.

Also saw them in action with a guy peeing in the hedge in the Stone Circle. When they challenged him he threw his can of lager at them and ran off!

But as he was pissed up and they were all young and sober he didn't get far before he fell over. They then sat with him and had what looked like a good natured chat. Was very funny and maybe it might be one person who MAY have thought about it again as he was made to look stupid.

Definitely would be a good idea for more of them walking around the camping areas, with security being called for any abuse they get.

[Redwinevino]

I honestly don't think I saw them once

[MrMac]

I only saw them once, talking to a bloke who'd just pissed against the fence off to the right of the JP tent. It's a fairly common occurrence in the muddy years, despite there being urinals not very far away. Not sure if it would be feasible to have another small block on that side which would also be handy for those camped further up the hill. If not, I'd stick a green police-person there on constant duty.

[Completewasters]

by way of a bump on busy day, glad to see that there were some examples of people getting a good talking to. would be nice to get the view of any police themselves or anyone that was chastised...

[geebus]

Last year I thought there was a much lower incidence of fence-pissing, meaning that the green police didn't seem to have much to do.

Didn't see many of them this year and the few that I DID see didn't seem to be doing much about the much greater numbers of fence-pissers I did see.

[Yesiamaduck]

I don't remember seeing any beyond the entrance this year... I remember seeing plenty in 2009

[ukslim]

I saw them trying their best in the Lounging and Viewing area, below the Crow's Nest.

It was a hopeless cause. The bloke they nabbed wan't in the least bit embarrassed by the whistles, and clearly didn't understand what was wrong with what he'd done. "People have done it for millions of years" (disbelievingly) "They think it'll kill fish".

I have a photo of three people all pissing next to the same row of "don't piss here" signs.

I don't know what can be done, unfortunately.

[Guest]

Anyone found pissing in the hedges should be thrown out the festival IMO. I'd disband the Green Police and hand their 'duties' to Security. If people saw that if you're caught that's the end of the festival for you, that would be a major deterrent to others.

Not very 'Glasto' I know.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Ommadawn

[Welsh.bluebird]

I seen them once and thought "what the hell"

as they they were blowing their whistle and they were kids and one of them fell over and everyone just laughed at them so i thought i was fancy dress

[Vacant0]

Pissing in hedges (or simply on the floor, in a crowd, in front of a stage - as I saw on three separate occasions) should be classed as anti-social behaviour and lead to ejection from the festival IMO.

[Alcatraz]

To be honest when I saw Green Police this year they were all plastered out of their skulls. So fair play to them

[ukslim]

Oh piss off.

[Denip]

I was quite disappointed that I did not see one ritual humiliation this year - it's usually a highlight as in the past festival-goers have tended to join in with the good-natured jeering.

They seemed to be going around in 2s and 3s instead of bands of them and I chatted to 3 girls up in the green fields on Saturday all of whom were first timers to Glasto and didn't seem to realise what their role really was.

I love the Green Police but they seem to have become a way to get a free ticket rather than the usual more passionate types who have a real sense of intent.

[Dan R]

I remember seeing someone go for a piss on the fence next to the other stage and a lone green policeman ran up started singing a song about pee fright which got some good crowd. And when the guy gave up some other drunk guys thought fit to carry off to the toilets. Entertained me a bit but other than that didn't really see them about.

[Bender]

I'm not a green police member, but i did see someone who was about to take a piss in a bush and told him that it scares away wildlife and kills fish, he then apologised and said he thought it was good for the soil and that he wouldn't do it again. Seemed rather genuine, and i hope he was, because after i said sorry to be a nag but he should remember to love the farm and leave no trace, was a nice moment really

I suspect some people do get named and shamed.

[Migraine]

After a few drinks too many up at the park I got talking to a group of staff who were off shift, two of them were responsible for testing the streams and they said that the water quality was pretty good this year.

[cdm22]

I didn't see them this year either....in fact the only person I saw trying to stop anyone peeing where they shouldn't was a warden type on the hill overlooking the Park stage.

[Pipine]

I saw them loads up in the park mainly... they seem to be doing a decent job of talking to people who had offended.. always made me laugh when they literally sprinted after people with the crowd cheering them on then booing the offender.. i think they did a good job. I saw less people pissing than other years, but I'd be up for a ejection from the festival for repeat offenders, it does appear that some people just don't realise the problem with it so maybe better advertising of the issues would stop a load more people.

I also saw the green police talking to a camp of pretty messy campers, asking them to use some bin bags to tidy up and reminding them to take their stuff with them..

[johnmcga]

I saw two REAL policeman stop a guy who was about to take a piss on the green fence near the bar to the left of The Other Stage. They were just walking past so it seemed fair enough for them to have a word.

The only thing is that they disappeared pretty sharpish, then the guy AND his mate went and pissed on the fence. Cocks.

Even worse were the people walking into the urinals, then weeing up the fence because they had a two minute wait ahead of them.

Edited to add: we should keep this in perspective. Compare to Reading Festival, Glastonbury doesn't really have a problem with this at all.

Edited June 28, 2011 by johnmcga