CDR: pigs use Inet for domestic intelligence at Phish

[anonymous at openpgp.net]

Friday September 22 06:47 PM EDT
                Undercover Police Go Online To
                Bust Phish Fans 

                By Contributing Editor Richard B. Simon reports

                After using the Internet to investigate the reputation and the
                lingo of Phish fans, undercover law-enforcement agents
                arrested as many as 90 concertgoers on substance-related charges at the jam bands
                show Monday in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

                Sgt. Larry Wagner of the Cuyahoga Falls Police Departments narcotics division said
                officers made arrests for 12 felonies and 10 misdemeanors outside the Blossom
                Music Center. Charges ranged from underage possession of alcohol to felony
                possession and trafficking in LSD, psychedelic mushrooms and Ecstasy.

                In the days before the Vermont band arrived in town, Capt. Barry Milich of the
                Sheriffs Department compared notes with police from other towns Phish had
                visited, while Wagner went online to research the Phish subculture for tips on how
                his undercover officers could fit in and understand the lingo.

                "Our guys will go up and say, Hey, you got any Molly (Ecstasy) or anything like
                that? " Wagner said. "They dont just sell grilled-cheese sandwiches out there."

                Wagner estimated that 70 to 80 officers from three agencies  the Cuyahoga Falls
                Police Department, the Summit County Sheriffs Department and the Ohio
                Department of Public Safety  were at the show, mostly in plainclothes, policing
                about 20,000 concertgoers. But the Phish fans picked up on the police presence
                quickly and would surround officers making arrests.

                "We knew when we were being made," Wagner said. "After the first arrest, they
                stated six up, meaning ... theyre here and theyre making an arrest, and for the
                mounted unit, it was six up, giddy up. So we were able to figure that out early on. ...
                Maybe I should have checked the Internet a little bit better before they came. Im
                back from the old school. I was waiting to hear pig and stuff like that, but I didnt
                hear any of that."

                Wagner admitted that some of the undercover officers blended in better than others.
                "I think Phish fans can tell the difference between Kmart tie-dyes and the ones they
                get at the concert."

                Most of the arrests were made before and during the show, Wagner said, while
                thousands of ticketless fans remained in the parking lot.

                Agent Rita Raimer of the Ohio Department of Public Safety said the department
                made 18 arrests in connection with underage possession of alcohol.

                Ohio penalties for drug possession range from likely probation for first-time
                offenders to possible jail time for those who have extensive criminal records or
                were caught selling large amounts. Wagner said all the felony arrests his department
                made were for "low-grade" offenses, for which the state has no mandatory minimum
                jail time.

                A Phish spokesperson declined to comment on the arrests. Many Phish fans follow
                the band from venue to venue, in the tradition of the Grateful Dead, so the band plays
                a different setlist each night, playing a mix of earlier tunes such as "Prince Caspian"
                ( RealAudio excerpt) and newer material such as "The Inlaw Josie Wales" ( RealAudio
                excerpt), from this years Farmhouse. 

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/so/20000922/en/undercover_police_go_online_to_bust_phish_fans_1.html