Drug sniffer dogs could be deployed at Summernats in Canberra next year in a raft of new security proposals for Australia's biggest modified car show.
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Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said that he and his team intended to "step on" the poor behaviour seen in early January in a more robust manner for future events, with "no second chances and zero tolerance" for those who behave poorly.
He indicated that a combination of drugs and intoxication by some patrons was a likely trigger for the sudden scale-up in highly disruptive behaviour on the peak Saturday evening of the event.
Summernats attracted a record four-day crowd of 125,000 this year although the hugely successful event was marred by some dangerous entrant driving and crowd behaviour late on Saturday afternoon, which led to the internal cruise route inside Exhibition Park being shut down and security staff left helpless to intervene.
"We have engaged a company which specialises in crowd and safety management systems for massive events," he said.
"Summernats is in that [event] space now.
"So we had engaged that company - they were at the event this year - to undertake a review and work on forward planning with us.
"That will include a whole range of recommendations in dealing with poor crowd behaviour and the different types of intox we haven't seen before; there will be a whole range of things that will come out of that."
He said this may likely mean "things we haven't seen before, including different queuing systems, reviewing the bag search procedures as people come in, and sniffer dogs, if we're allowed to."
Video footage emerged on various platforms of entrants doing burnouts on the Summernats cruise route on Saturday night, including full 360 degree spins, as dozens of people jumped the barriers and crowded around the roadway and the cars, creating a major safety risk.
Security staff attempted to prevent it happening but were overwhelmed and their directions ignored due to the press of the crowd.
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Police were required to intervene and forklifts were used to position concrete barriers across the cruise route and prevent it from being used for the rest of the evening. Some of those entrants who were ejected went to Lonsdale St in Braddon where other issues flared up.
"That isolated behaviour is not the event we want and we're saying quite clearly to patrons and entrants that if that's not the Summernats you want, then don't come," Mr Lopez said.
Both the police executive and the police union were highly critical of the lack of appropriate security procedures to contain the situation.
Alex Caruana, president of the Australian Federal Police Association which represents the rank and file officers, called for a full review of event security. Local residents continue to rail against the event for its noise and disruption and have called it to be better contained.
Mr Lopez said that Summernats would be banning those entrants who misbehaved.
"We have been doing this for quite a while now; we have identified those entrants and they won't be allowed back," he said.
"We're talking about a very low number - about 70 or 80 - compared with the 2500 entrants.
"Which is pretty good ratio of dickhead to good citizen at most big events like this.
"Unfortunately a lot of those from that issue on Saturday were first-timers at the event so they're people that have come down [to Canberra] with the intent to cause bad behaviour.
"That will be their first and last Summernats."
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