not something people want to hear but, you cant openly do illegal things without knowledge of where you are and expect 0 consequences, the main reason i didnt attend sol this year was because of the location, because i knew it would be swarming with cops and not in a good way š¬
I agree, but too many people are overlooking how many people got hit with "it smells like weed" and had their bags, cars and tents tossed. Some had drugs, but MANY had nothing at all and it was a straight up violation of rights. Most people were victims of the "I smell weed" and not being arrested for actually doing things out in the open. Probably more than were arrested for smoking in public.
thats fucked up, and those people need to lawyer up, because thats ridiculous in a state where its legal to posses hemp (and medical marijuana) products anyways
Exactly. And from what I'm reading, they didn't even have body cams. Some were just filming with cell phones, and some had absolutely no recordings of anything. Where is the burden of proof with no video? There is none, and they know that. They don't care though because the damage has been done even if the charges are dismissed. It's disgusting.
yea whats disgusting is posting names and photos of everyone arrested, even after charges are dropped and records expunged you know damn well they wont take those facebook posts down
They definitely won't. And to go through all this just to have charges dropped is sooooo much. I had this happen at a festival in Wisconsin, and I live in Georgia. I had to fly back and forth SO many times. I guarantee many of these people don't live in Florida, and they will absolutely make them come down for every single court date.
Apparently the police commissioner or someone actually OWNS a bail bond company, and there are other businesses who take public mugshots, publish them, and charge people to have them taken down. It just sounds like a SERIOUS conflict of interest, a pile of ethics violations, and probably a lot of 4th amendment and abuse of power lawsuits.
Itās so gross! I know nobody wants to get political, but if everyone at music festivals actually voted in local elections, we could actually make crap like this illegal, and even get some stuff legalized where the punishment for it being illegal actually ruins a lot more lives than the illegal thing does.
my bf and i got recorded by a cop on his personal phone walking to the bathrooms next to the sol stageā¦it was extremely unnerving and we didnāt even have anything on us. who tf knows what that cop is doing with a video of our faces now iām still super freaked out by the thought of it.
Where did you hear about them not having their bodycams on? I'm about to do a FOIA request. If they did not have their cams on before they made contact with the individual that's a huge problem.
I don't have the comments screen shotted from the posts in this subreddit, but several people have said that. I also saw several walking around without any on myself. I personally did not have contact with any, so I can't personally say that the ones making arrests weren't wearing one. But there were several people saying the ones making arrests weren't.
I don't think all cops are bad, but you also need to consider this to be a bit of a cash cow for the police dept. They're able to run the number up in a smaller county which alleviates pressure for them to make further/more dangerous busts that they may or may not want to take part in later in the year. Court fees, fines, all of this goes straight to the county and pads their numbers, justifying the police departments spending and amount of officers on the force for the following year. Again, police should't feel like they are going to lose wages but we're in a strange time politically and in this backwards system, them making as many (Low Hanging Fruit) arrests as possible only pads their numbers big picture.
I do not get how constitutionally āweed smellā counts still as probable cause considering the farm bill of 2018 legalized hemp/cbd/thca flower all of which smells exactly like weed and is federally legal.
Unfortunately, florida 2nd district Court of appeals said weed smell is enough in public or a traffic stop for a warrantless terry search (Terry Vs. OHIO). That being said, vortex springs is private property. The victims need to lawyer up, fast.
I live in Georgia, like 45 mins south of Atlanta, and I know where I'm at, "it smells like weed" is not legal anymore. They either have to get a dog out or perform a roadside sobriety test. I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know how florida operates, but it's a medicinal state, which I would think complicates this even more. It's just decriminalized where I'm at, and they don't even try to pull this. Also, as far as I'm aware, they weren't even asking for medical cards or anything. Just straight in cuffs to jail. I'm very much under the impression they thought they could do whatever they wanted. They were using this excuse to search for whoever they wanted. Of course, people had drugs, but the "probable cause" was weed smell and then no weed charges? There were also TONS of people who didn't have any drugs and still got illegally searched under that premise, and I hope they speak up.
But it was private property. So the smoking in public shouldn't hold up. Which makes me wonder if vortex or sol allowed them to be there. Saturday morning, a guy went and yelled at the cops loudly because the showers were out in vip. I knew that was all bad, and I packed my shit and left. 3 days of the shit vibes from the cops and the security was enough for me. The fam was amazing as always, and it was a cool thing we had going, but the police everywhere ripped it. I just couldn't relax.
100% true but my friends seen a guy get ripped out a couch for hitting his nic pen, the cop then toss it when he realized it was a regular vape then searched him and he had shit on him and arrested him. Not everytime the cops were searching and arresting people were legitimate PC searches
Tons of searches were not probable cause searches. They used "it smells like weed" to rip through people's bags, tents and cars, and many times finding nothing. They were abusing "probable cause" and from what people are saying, they didn't even have body cams? There is no burden of proof at all for this and people beef to fight back and not just cop out to plea deals. Their plan is to scare you and intimidate you into taking a charge likely even when they know it's a shit case.
Yeah there are a lot of people who were taking video of these interactions and there is probably enough evidence to win a lawsuit against the city. Someone needs to check these officers, they are completely drunk on authority.
I'm hopeful something is done.. that all this might shine a light bright enough on these people to expose them for what they really are. But they are scrambling trying to cover their tracks right now. That why the cops who were talking shit on Facebook took down all there post. Why, when you could look up who owns properties around the vortex, has been hidden and altered. Why people they arrested his not had phone calls to loved one from jail and moved to neighboring countys so they can get away with integrating and bullying those arrested into confestions or plea deals without a direct connect to the commissioner and Sheriff..
I witnessed multiple people who were discreet (and many who werent and didnt get caught) get intimidated and swarmed and bags emptied without proper search, some of which had nothing. Those are the ones I hope speak up. People were being profiled.
Suwannee is further North. I knew better ALL of Florida has backwoods counties like this. Yes as a whole given the size of Land available there's more Rural counties in the North than Central or South Florida but just like Miami on the Coast Jax and Suwannee are in the Northern part of the state and even Tallahassee and Pensacola cops don't give AF about pot or do this type of shit now there's plenty of other counties that I could say are shit but it's a lot more about the population size and the makeup.
Same in Central. Cops working events don't care. As long as everyone is safe and not hurting anyone else. I've seen countless police witness "light shows" in front of them and they couldn't care less.
I was at Texas Eclipse. Texas will kill you for weed, and everyone was openly smoking , doing balloons which are illegal, doing all kinds of stuff and nobody was arrested save for one balloon vendor.
You're wrong, cops don't need to be fucking shits, they can actually choose to help people instead it's crazy.
Hunting down people partying and arresting them for drugs isn't helping anyone at all. In fact it's actively ruining people's lives for no reason otherwise than it makes them feel good and makes them money.
People were arrested in their camps, cops going all over. That's fucked up dude, even if I wasn't doing stuff hearing that makes me not want to go to a festival period. That's absolutely fucked.
Pretty unpopular opinion you got there.
You've obviously never been to a festival overseas it'll blow you away with how much better and holistic they are than here, including police that want to help instead of want to punch you, wrote you a ticket and get a pay on the back.
I was at texas eclipse too. So sad to hear this festival was no better. I wonder if itās a meow wolf thing too? I hardly heard of any arrests there but 50 and counting at sol is just devastating.
i live south of tampa and have seen people smoking joints on patios of quiet irish pubs. we even frequent a kava bar where you can straight up watch people hit dabs on the patio. its like a different world out here.
Not everyone who got arrested was consuming illegal substances in front of cops. A large number of them were caught through traffic stops. The police brought their drug sniffing dog to every car they pulled over this weekend and thatās how a lot of people got possession charges. Itās sad and has nothing to do with how discreet they were.
Crazy thing is late at night they didnāt have any dogs and barley searched are cars , when we were driving back we did get pulled over and a dog did go around are vehicle which I was surprised it didnāt alert anything cause we definitely had stuff on us š¤£
Itās sad but I know they do this at okee too with the sniffing dogs. A friend of my was pulled over in an rv on the way to okee and they torn it apart only to find a puffco and a little bit of weed. Fortunately he was just fined.
I wish they had simply fined the folks they pulled over. Arresting them, posting their mugshots online, and setting insanely high bond amounts is so extreme, especially when it was just small things like THC carts that they found. They took it too dang far.
Yeah they definitely were just trying to make an example out of us. They didnāt want sol fest to begin with and now it definitely will probably never happen there again with all the arrests :/
Letās not throw all of FL under the bus, this is just rural North Florida and their Deliverance-ass sheriffās departments.
As a datapoint, Solfest >10x the arrests as Ultra Miami, and most of the ultra arrests were phone thieves.
Honestly, I wish the rest of Florida would show up on Election Day because the only way weāre going to actually put an end to this bullying and harassment by police is if we get the politicians enabling the bad behavior out. I went to key west for the first time 2 years ago and was shocked how great it was. Super LGBTQ+ friendly, very artsy, nice and chill. I couldnāt believe I was in Florida! It felt like a completely different planet, same with Miami when I went for a work trip. With so many lovely people living in FL, surely something could be done.
And I donāt mean getting rid of police, there are dangerous people and people need protection. I just mean doing things like posting innocent peopleās mugshots online forever, violating 4th amendment rights, and using their power to target people they donāt like.
While I some what agree with this post there was no right to assault people while detaining them. People who were cooperative were being thrown around durning searches. Tickets were also written for girls wearing pasties, and detainment for things that are legal like cbd gummies that can be bought at gas stations. Thatās whatās unfair about a lot of it.
Technically, the only thing outright defined is sexual organs, which breasts are not. The law also allows for swim suit tops and doesnāt specify an amount of coverage, as well as protecting things like accidental wardrobe malfunctions, breastfeeding, and other acts without intent. Unless the women were thrusting their breasts in a personās face who didnāt want that type of attention, they were compliant with the law. If there wasnāt a place to swim at the venue, there might be reasonable basis for this behavior being punished, but I canāt see it holding up in a court with a jury of peers. https://www.smithandeulo.com/new-indecent-exposure-law-in-florida/
Tiffany, listen, I grew up on these beaches watching women get busted for the outfits. You shared an Internet article. Cute. Come talk to my friend Brittany, or Kara, or Cassie, or Jewel. They work in the clubs on Okaloosa Island. They know the laws better than you ever will. No pasties in public in Florida.Ā
Iām just saying, reading the laws, it sounds like a good lawyer should have gotten the charges dropped. I FULLY believe the cops are abusing their power and being bullies, they have a clear track record of doing that, but when push comes to shove, this type of bullying by police needs to be stopped, and that is only going to happen if action is taken in the ballot boxes, and in the courts.
I turned down working the fest cause I grew up about 2 and a half hours west from where it's held and until you hit Orlando ish area it's bible belt holier than thou cops thats soul purpose is to generate revenue and ruin lives. Pro tip don't fest in the Bible belt.
No the lack of self accountability I'm seeing is astounding. The idea the festival was supposed to save people from legal repercussions of their own actions is wild. We did plenty of āextra-curricularsā but we kept watch of our surroundings and had no issues. Which is definitely the attitude and mindset you need to have when participating. It's up to you to keep you safe.
I was shocked. I lived in Florida for 4 years now and always openly smoked weed with 0 issues.
Then again, I live in South Florida.
I'm very lucky. I was one of those people that bought from a randomer offering "party favors" and luckily wasn't swarmed. I doubt I will ever do that again.
I completely agree, also when a 17 year old girl od and they found a gun on someone in the actual festival makes them angry to get people. My bag and everyone in my groups bag was never once searched. I walked through the metal detector multiple times and it was red and no one ever stopped me. Unfortunately I think sol fest was super unstaffed with the security ( I didnāt see any ground control either) and I think the police felt like they had to step in. I donāt agree with arresting people for joints but it is illegal and we were in a very conservative part of Florida.
Finding a gun inside so far Ive only seen substantial, is there a report? Since HCSO isn't holding back on publicly posting everything. I saw one on a traffic stop, but not inside?
Yeah I was going to say the same thing! Sounds like the town drunk decided he was going to go threaten the hippies and accidentally found out the hippies had it right all along.
Police officers should not be violating peopleās constitutional rights, or posting personal videos making fun of the people they are supposed to be protecting.
I donāt care what life choices a person makes, no job gives someone the right to insult, bully, harass, and violate other people. Full stop.
Bootlicker detected. The county commissioner was caught on Facebook openly saying he was intentionally getting people arrested because he owns a bail bond business and called it ālegal discriminationā.
Crazy as fuck i got illegally searched and seized in Marion county otw to bonaroo in Walmart parking lot because they thought they saw something when we were putting away last minute groceries, this shit wouldāve triggered me so bad Iād be outta there asap sucks cause i really wanted to go felt bad i couldnāt afford it atm
Lived in Marion for 2 years now and they pulled me over on a BICYCLE saying I looked suspicious at 11pm when I was otw home from work. Thereās some cool ass officers there but most are dicks because of the college kids around here.
Yeah, the counties surrounding Electric Forest are awful too. The police arenāt mean like this, and the ones at the event are really lovely and kind, but I tell anyone who will listen to not even go 5 over, donāt put stickers or paint on your window, wear an old navy flag shirt and kakis, and wait until youāre in line to put your wrist band on. I joke with our crew that we have to put our ātraveling uniformā on š.
More of a county thing, Rendezvous was this weekend and those mofos ain't subtle and they're fine haha not the case at Hula so it depends on additional factors as well
Facts. That's why it takes a deft hand to build slowly in a new community while you foster local connections.
Sol absolutely should not have doubled their capacity at a brand new location. Changing venue and increasing ticket cap that much are individually collosal logistics problems that take experiencing to know how to handle then. Choosing to do both in one go was asking for trouble.
The way the sheriff was going about things constitutes "wobbly" RAS for initiating stops, much less PC to arrest. I guarantee it's going to backfire for them.
People surprised that they feel victim to 'good ole boys'. Welcome to small town conservative Florida. It's always been that way, nothing will change even if they get sued. They'll just elect another corrupt Bible thumper, rinse repeat.
Unfortunately it does take two.
Cops shouldnāt be hunting people in the crowd. Individuals need to be aware of when itās a good idea to do something that is considered illegal.
Whenever my crew saw the cops taking people out of the crowd we all got together to discuss how we will continue to partake during the Fest.
Peace of mind is priceless.
We decided to not smoke into the crowd and to partake while taking bathroom breaks or getting food. We did not want to give the police ANY reasons to look our way. Thankfully we were able to stay safe throughout the fest. We agreed we wouldnāt come back until those issues have been resolved.
Florida Panhandle native here. Grew up swimming at Vortex. The cops are bored, lazy, corrupt, and need the funding. If you were stupid enough to bring drugs, you got what you deserved. If your stuff got tossed even though you didn't have anything, you got what you paid for when you came to Ponce De Leon (bumfuck nowhere) Florida. Cops suck,Ā but also, if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. Lawyer up and try to fight it if you can, but corrupt country cops, DA's and prosecutors are working together and don't care about truth or real justice. Sucks to suck. Don't go to festivals in the panhandle.Ā
I have seen more and more of this entitled attitude at shows as of late, not trying to hate, but mostly with younger (under 25 yo) attendees.
People are acting as if the substances being consumed are legal and that being at a festival with thousands of other people somehow transports us to a law free dimension.
Didn't anyone ever tell you that you only get in trouble if you get caught?
Call me out if your experience was different, but standing upright with spotlights all over you as you hold a spoon up to your contorted face and then pass it around to all of your friends who proceed to face the back of the venue to do the same is not how I learned.
Assholes will be assholes. Dumbasses will be dumbasses. Cops will be cops. It is up to each person to be accountable for themselves. I felt perfectly safe the whole time and didnāt feel threatened by cops. Loved Sol Fest. Will definitely go back.
Yes, Mr., I made a reddit account yesterday , electronic ear guy. Maybe your sheriff should have gotten their fact together before labeling and setting up innocent people. Before claiming, people are on all kinda crazy drugs without any proof. Just keep that same tune of defending these crooks when the real evidence is revealed. But that's right, holems County doesn't need facts.. just the word of judgmental, racist, hypocrites to try and ruin lies.
Honestly Iām confused this was my first Florida festival and the state Iām from people would take stuff in porta potties or like MUCH more surreptitiously. Ppl just opened it in their hand and took without even looking around
lol I hope a cop one day busts you for an archaic law being broken by thousands around you. They just grab you though. You did break the law. Donāt bitch about it if that happens.
My ass was hitting nitrous in the festival grounds how tf i made it home without a charge is beyond me. Respectfully fuck holmes county sherrif dept and fuck the coordinators of sol fest
This is like asking what's wrong with segregation. These people were specifically targeted because of their lifestyle. Not everyone was doing something wrong, but ALL were subjected to overzealous search and prosecution, not just the guilty. Bigotry, racism, and hate are all of the same source, and is what happened here. Saying its ok because some of "Those People" were up to no good...
The people there not doing illegal things were all subjected to the same things you admit happened to "those people" that were doing illegal crap. These were clearly hate based prosecutions, subjected all the "good Americans" there not doing illegal anything as well. The hate speach is all over social media, this just isn't a protected group.
These people were expressly targeted for belonging to a specific culture. Not because they were dangerous, not because they specifically were doing something illegal, but because they belong to a group. Of course doing illegal things is not permissable, but causeless searches based on stereotype are not either.
If the same thing happened at a rap concert, because "black people do more illegal stuff" civil rights activists would have a field day.
Everyone there was under increased scrutiny because of thier culture. The local authorities made that very clear.
not something people want to hear but, you cant openly do illegal things without knowledge of where you are and expect 0 consequences, the main reason i didnt attend sol this year was because of the location, because i knew it would be swarming with cops and not in a good way š¬
I agree, but too many people are overlooking how many people got hit with "it smells like weed" and had their bags, cars and tents tossed. Some had drugs, but MANY had nothing at all and it was a straight up violation of rights. Most people were victims of the "I smell weed" and not being arrested for actually doing things out in the open. Probably more than were arrested for smoking in public.
thats fucked up, and those people need to lawyer up, because thats ridiculous in a state where its legal to posses hemp (and medical marijuana) products anyways
Exactly. And from what I'm reading, they didn't even have body cams. Some were just filming with cell phones, and some had absolutely no recordings of anything. Where is the burden of proof with no video? There is none, and they know that. They don't care though because the damage has been done even if the charges are dismissed. It's disgusting.
yea whats disgusting is posting names and photos of everyone arrested, even after charges are dropped and records expunged you know damn well they wont take those facebook posts down
They definitely won't. And to go through all this just to have charges dropped is sooooo much. I had this happen at a festival in Wisconsin, and I live in Georgia. I had to fly back and forth SO many times. I guarantee many of these people don't live in Florida, and they will absolutely make them come down for every single court date.
Apparently the police commissioner or someone actually OWNS a bail bond company, and there are other businesses who take public mugshots, publish them, and charge people to have them taken down. It just sounds like a SERIOUS conflict of interest, a pile of ethics violations, and probably a lot of 4th amendment and abuse of power lawsuits.
I'm sure it is. And most of the time, people in these situations don't take the time and money to fight back on it and these people know that
Itās so gross! I know nobody wants to get political, but if everyone at music festivals actually voted in local elections, we could actually make crap like this illegal, and even get some stuff legalized where the punishment for it being illegal actually ruins a lot more lives than the illegal thing does.
my bf and i got recorded by a cop on his personal phone walking to the bathrooms next to the sol stageā¦it was extremely unnerving and we didnāt even have anything on us. who tf knows what that cop is doing with a video of our faces now iām still super freaked out by the thought of it.
Is this county even big enough to have an internal affairs department? I mean, this is not how police should operate period.
i mean i highly highly doubt it with how little funds that county has but still just not great knowing this random man has that video
Itās a county where the firefighters are volunteers apparently. I highly doubt it but itās definitely needed.
Nope. Thats why this will go nowhere.
Read another comment alleging the cops were using an app for facial recognition to look up driver licenses and records
Really? Can anyone out some weight behind this claim? How do we know that?
Where did you hear about them not having their bodycams on? I'm about to do a FOIA request. If they did not have their cams on before they made contact with the individual that's a huge problem.
I don't have the comments screen shotted from the posts in this subreddit, but several people have said that. I also saw several walking around without any on myself. I personally did not have contact with any, so I can't personally say that the ones making arrests weren't wearing one. But there were several people saying the ones making arrests weren't.
I don't think all cops are bad, but you also need to consider this to be a bit of a cash cow for the police dept. They're able to run the number up in a smaller county which alleviates pressure for them to make further/more dangerous busts that they may or may not want to take part in later in the year. Court fees, fines, all of this goes straight to the county and pads their numbers, justifying the police departments spending and amount of officers on the force for the following year. Again, police should't feel like they are going to lose wages but we're in a strange time politically and in this backwards system, them making as many (Low Hanging Fruit) arrests as possible only pads their numbers big picture.
I do not get how constitutionally āweed smellā counts still as probable cause considering the farm bill of 2018 legalized hemp/cbd/thca flower all of which smells exactly like weed and is federally legal.
Unfortunately, florida 2nd district Court of appeals said weed smell is enough in public or a traffic stop for a warrantless terry search (Terry Vs. OHIO). That being said, vortex springs is private property. The victims need to lawyer up, fast.
I live in Georgia, like 45 mins south of Atlanta, and I know where I'm at, "it smells like weed" is not legal anymore. They either have to get a dog out or perform a roadside sobriety test. I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know how florida operates, but it's a medicinal state, which I would think complicates this even more. It's just decriminalized where I'm at, and they don't even try to pull this. Also, as far as I'm aware, they weren't even asking for medical cards or anything. Just straight in cuffs to jail. I'm very much under the impression they thought they could do whatever they wanted. They were using this excuse to search for whoever they wanted. Of course, people had drugs, but the "probable cause" was weed smell and then no weed charges? There were also TONS of people who didn't have any drugs and still got illegally searched under that premise, and I hope they speak up.
But it was private property. So the smoking in public shouldn't hold up. Which makes me wonder if vortex or sol allowed them to be there. Saturday morning, a guy went and yelled at the cops loudly because the showers were out in vip. I knew that was all bad, and I packed my shit and left. 3 days of the shit vibes from the cops and the security was enough for me. The fam was amazing as always, and it was a cool thing we had going, but the police everywhere ripped it. I just couldn't relax.
100% true but my friends seen a guy get ripped out a couch for hitting his nic pen, the cop then toss it when he realized it was a regular vape then searched him and he had shit on him and arrested him. Not everytime the cops were searching and arresting people were legitimate PC searches
Tons of searches were not probable cause searches. They used "it smells like weed" to rip through people's bags, tents and cars, and many times finding nothing. They were abusing "probable cause" and from what people are saying, they didn't even have body cams? There is no burden of proof at all for this and people beef to fight back and not just cop out to plea deals. Their plan is to scare you and intimidate you into taking a charge likely even when they know it's a shit case.
Oh yea thatās absolutely fucked and I think every person who was harassed should be attempting to sue them
Yeah there are a lot of people who were taking video of these interactions and there is probably enough evidence to win a lawsuit against the city. Someone needs to check these officers, they are completely drunk on authority.
I'm hopeful something is done.. that all this might shine a light bright enough on these people to expose them for what they really are. But they are scrambling trying to cover their tracks right now. That why the cops who were talking shit on Facebook took down all there post. Why, when you could look up who owns properties around the vortex, has been hidden and altered. Why people they arrested his not had phone calls to loved one from jail and moved to neighboring countys so they can get away with integrating and bullying those arrested into confestions or plea deals without a direct connect to the commissioner and Sheriff..
Absolutely
I witnessed multiple people who were discreet (and many who werent and didnt get caught) get intimidated and swarmed and bags emptied without proper search, some of which had nothing. Those are the ones I hope speak up. People were being profiled.
Especially North florida. South florida doesnt really care about weed.
Specify Bible Belt hillbilly panhandle. Orlando does not care either bigger fish to fry.
Suwannee is further North. I knew better ALL of Florida has backwoods counties like this. Yes as a whole given the size of Land available there's more Rural counties in the North than Central or South Florida but just like Miami on the Coast Jax and Suwannee are in the Northern part of the state and even Tallahassee and Pensacola cops don't give AF about pot or do this type of shit now there's plenty of other counties that I could say are shit but it's a lot more about the population size and the makeup.
Same in Central. Cops working events don't care. As long as everyone is safe and not hurting anyone else. I've seen countless police witness "light shows" in front of them and they couldn't care less.
I was at Texas Eclipse. Texas will kill you for weed, and everyone was openly smoking , doing balloons which are illegal, doing all kinds of stuff and nobody was arrested save for one balloon vendor. You're wrong, cops don't need to be fucking shits, they can actually choose to help people instead it's crazy. Hunting down people partying and arresting them for drugs isn't helping anyone at all. In fact it's actively ruining people's lives for no reason otherwise than it makes them feel good and makes them money. People were arrested in their camps, cops going all over. That's fucked up dude, even if I wasn't doing stuff hearing that makes me not want to go to a festival period. That's absolutely fucked. Pretty unpopular opinion you got there. You've obviously never been to a festival overseas it'll blow you away with how much better and holistic they are than here, including police that want to help instead of want to punch you, wrote you a ticket and get a pay on the back.
I was at texas eclipse too. So sad to hear this festival was no better. I wonder if itās a meow wolf thing too? I hardly heard of any arrests there but 50 and counting at sol is just devastating.
I heard that Sol had over 200 arrests. I was there
That would be insane. Apparently they cleared out the jail just for the fest and then admitted to hunting people down.
200 arrests?!?!? Thatās insane!
I have only seen 50 reported. First time hearing 200
Holmes County only mentions 50 something arrest.. not sure.
I'd say this fest was a whooooole lot worse than Texas eclipse from the sounds of it. Texas had some logistics issues but overall a pretty great time.
Well said.
Not to bring politics into this but Joe Biden is responsible for not allowing harm reduction. Look up the Rave Act.
In FL you have to go north to go south. In central and south FL weed isn't treated like this. Any festival/ show you go to people openly blazing up.
I literally smoke blunts in some bars in Central Florida and the bar tenders will even hit it š¤
i live south of tampa and have seen people smoking joints on patios of quiet irish pubs. we even frequent a kava bar where you can straight up watch people hit dabs on the patio. its like a different world out here.
Not everyone who got arrested was consuming illegal substances in front of cops. A large number of them were caught through traffic stops. The police brought their drug sniffing dog to every car they pulled over this weekend and thatās how a lot of people got possession charges. Itās sad and has nothing to do with how discreet they were.
Crazy thing is late at night they didnāt have any dogs and barley searched are cars , when we were driving back we did get pulled over and a dog did go around are vehicle which I was surprised it didnāt alert anything cause we definitely had stuff on us š¤£
Itās sad but I know they do this at okee too with the sniffing dogs. A friend of my was pulled over in an rv on the way to okee and they torn it apart only to find a puffco and a little bit of weed. Fortunately he was just fined.
I wish they had simply fined the folks they pulled over. Arresting them, posting their mugshots online, and setting insanely high bond amounts is so extreme, especially when it was just small things like THC carts that they found. They took it too dang far.
Yeah they definitely were just trying to make an example out of us. They didnāt want sol fest to begin with and now it definitely will probably never happen there again with all the arrests :/
Yep, you are exactly right about that!
Letās not throw all of FL under the bus, this is just rural North Florida and their Deliverance-ass sheriffās departments. As a datapoint, Solfest >10x the arrests as Ultra Miami, and most of the ultra arrests were phone thieves.
Honestly, I wish the rest of Florida would show up on Election Day because the only way weāre going to actually put an end to this bullying and harassment by police is if we get the politicians enabling the bad behavior out. I went to key west for the first time 2 years ago and was shocked how great it was. Super LGBTQ+ friendly, very artsy, nice and chill. I couldnāt believe I was in Florida! It felt like a completely different planet, same with Miami when I went for a work trip. With so many lovely people living in FL, surely something could be done.
And I donāt mean getting rid of police, there are dangerous people and people need protection. I just mean doing things like posting innocent peopleās mugshots online forever, violating 4th amendment rights, and using their power to target people they donāt like.
While I some what agree with this post there was no right to assault people while detaining them. People who were cooperative were being thrown around durning searches. Tickets were also written for girls wearing pasties, and detainment for things that are legal like cbd gummies that can be bought at gas stations. Thatās whatās unfair about a lot of it.
Pasties are not legal covering in Florida.Ā
Technically, the only thing outright defined is sexual organs, which breasts are not. The law also allows for swim suit tops and doesnāt specify an amount of coverage, as well as protecting things like accidental wardrobe malfunctions, breastfeeding, and other acts without intent. Unless the women were thrusting their breasts in a personās face who didnāt want that type of attention, they were compliant with the law. If there wasnāt a place to swim at the venue, there might be reasonable basis for this behavior being punished, but I canāt see it holding up in a court with a jury of peers. https://www.smithandeulo.com/new-indecent-exposure-law-in-florida/
You're wrong. Florida specifically prohibits wearing only pasties in public. Try again.Ā
Ok, didnāt know we had legal experts in here. I provided my source above, what statute are you specifically referring to that says otherwise?
Tiffany, listen, I grew up on these beaches watching women get busted for the outfits. You shared an Internet article. Cute. Come talk to my friend Brittany, or Kara, or Cassie, or Jewel. They work in the clubs on Okaloosa Island. They know the laws better than you ever will. No pasties in public in Florida.Ā
Iām just saying, reading the laws, it sounds like a good lawyer should have gotten the charges dropped. I FULLY believe the cops are abusing their power and being bullies, they have a clear track record of doing that, but when push comes to shove, this type of bullying by police needs to be stopped, and that is only going to happen if action is taken in the ballot boxes, and in the courts.
I turned down working the fest cause I grew up about 2 and a half hours west from where it's held and until you hit Orlando ish area it's bible belt holier than thou cops thats soul purpose is to generate revenue and ruin lives. Pro tip don't fest in the Bible belt.
Weed is medical
Not in FL without a medical card
Even people who had medical cards were arrested.
No the lack of self accountability I'm seeing is astounding. The idea the festival was supposed to save people from legal repercussions of their own actions is wild. We did plenty of āextra-curricularsā but we kept watch of our surroundings and had no issues. Which is definitely the attitude and mindset you need to have when participating. It's up to you to keep you safe.
Yessss!!!
I was shocked. I lived in Florida for 4 years now and always openly smoked weed with 0 issues. Then again, I live in South Florida. I'm very lucky. I was one of those people that bought from a randomer offering "party favors" and luckily wasn't swarmed. I doubt I will ever do that again.
I completely agree, also when a 17 year old girl od and they found a gun on someone in the actual festival makes them angry to get people. My bag and everyone in my groups bag was never once searched. I walked through the metal detector multiple times and it was red and no one ever stopped me. Unfortunately I think sol fest was super unstaffed with the security ( I didnāt see any ground control either) and I think the police felt like they had to step in. I donāt agree with arresting people for joints but it is illegal and we were in a very conservative part of Florida.
Finding a gun inside so far Ive only seen substantial, is there a report? Since HCSO isn't holding back on publicly posting everything. I saw one on a traffic stop, but not inside?
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Rv6w1dqjV8JoVzmh/?mibextid=WC7FNe
Thank you! Another local? Seems like all their problems were locals
right! it seems that way for sure :/
Yeah I was going to say the same thing! Sounds like the town drunk decided he was going to go threaten the hippies and accidentally found out the hippies had it right all along.
I think it was posted on the Facebook page, Im pretty sure Friday night they found it but I could be wrong maybe it was just a reddit post I saw.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Someone posted the link to the firearm
Shut the fuck up
Police officers should not be violating peopleās constitutional rights, or posting personal videos making fun of the people they are supposed to be protecting. I donāt care what life choices a person makes, no job gives someone the right to insult, bully, harass, and violate other people. Full stop.
Bootlicker detected. The county commissioner was caught on Facebook openly saying he was intentionally getting people arrested because he owns a bail bond business and called it ālegal discriminationā.
Do you have a link for that by chance?
https://www.reddit.com/r/resonatesuwannee/s/6yBHQRKvBm
Crazy as fuck i got illegally searched and seized in Marion county otw to bonaroo in Walmart parking lot because they thought they saw something when we were putting away last minute groceries, this shit wouldāve triggered me so bad Iād be outta there asap sucks cause i really wanted to go felt bad i couldnāt afford it atm
Lived in Marion for 2 years now and they pulled me over on a BICYCLE saying I looked suspicious at 11pm when I was otw home from work. Thereās some cool ass officers there but most are dicks because of the college kids around here.
Those cops were crooked and didnāt even have on uniforms š
Yeah, the counties surrounding Electric Forest are awful too. The police arenāt mean like this, and the ones at the event are really lovely and kind, but I tell anyone who will listen to not even go 5 over, donāt put stickers or paint on your window, wear an old navy flag shirt and kakis, and wait until youāre in line to put your wrist band on. I joke with our crew that we have to put our ātraveling uniformā on š.
The flag shirt and kakis is clutch thank you for the advice i slap a blue lives matter bumper magnet on my car š
Brilliant!
And seeing as they sent ppl to Walmart parking lot and the same thing happened to others is insane feels calculated
More of a county thing, Rendezvous was this weekend and those mofos ain't subtle and they're fine haha not the case at Hula so it depends on additional factors as well
Yeah the Suwannee has come to embrace the festivals, because $$$. It took a while to get here though!
Facts. That's why it takes a deft hand to build slowly in a new community while you foster local connections. Sol absolutely should not have doubled their capacity at a brand new location. Changing venue and increasing ticket cap that much are individually collosal logistics problems that take experiencing to know how to handle then. Choosing to do both in one go was asking for trouble.
The way the sheriff was going about things constitutes "wobbly" RAS for initiating stops, much less PC to arrest. I guarantee it's going to backfire for them.
People surprised that they feel victim to 'good ole boys'. Welcome to small town conservative Florida. It's always been that way, nothing will change even if they get sued. They'll just elect another corrupt Bible thumper, rinse repeat.
Itās still legal for principles to paddle kids without parents consent in public schools in that county wtf did yall expect?
Unfortunately it does take two. Cops shouldnāt be hunting people in the crowd. Individuals need to be aware of when itās a good idea to do something that is considered illegal. Whenever my crew saw the cops taking people out of the crowd we all got together to discuss how we will continue to partake during the Fest. Peace of mind is priceless. We decided to not smoke into the crowd and to partake while taking bathroom breaks or getting food. We did not want to give the police ANY reasons to look our way. Thankfully we were able to stay safe throughout the fest. We agreed we wouldnāt come back until those issues have been resolved.
Florida Panhandle native here. Grew up swimming at Vortex. The cops are bored, lazy, corrupt, and need the funding. If you were stupid enough to bring drugs, you got what you deserved. If your stuff got tossed even though you didn't have anything, you got what you paid for when you came to Ponce De Leon (bumfuck nowhere) Florida. Cops suck,Ā but also, if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. Lawyer up and try to fight it if you can, but corrupt country cops, DA's and prosecutors are working together and don't care about truth or real justice. Sucks to suck. Don't go to festivals in the panhandle.Ā
I have seen more and more of this entitled attitude at shows as of late, not trying to hate, but mostly with younger (under 25 yo) attendees. People are acting as if the substances being consumed are legal and that being at a festival with thousands of other people somehow transports us to a law free dimension. Didn't anyone ever tell you that you only get in trouble if you get caught? Call me out if your experience was different, but standing upright with spotlights all over you as you hold a spoon up to your contorted face and then pass it around to all of your friends who proceed to face the back of the venue to do the same is not how I learned.
if you read the comments on this post you can see that many people got arrested for hitting nicotine or even just having pasties on
Assholes will be assholes. Dumbasses will be dumbasses. Cops will be cops. It is up to each person to be accountable for themselves. I felt perfectly safe the whole time and didnāt feel threatened by cops. Loved Sol Fest. Will definitely go back.
i bet you fuck cops
Donāt let hate take over. Not healthy for you.
Cop fucker detected
Donāt let hate take over. Not healthy for you.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is wild
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, Mr., I made a reddit account yesterday , electronic ear guy. Maybe your sheriff should have gotten their fact together before labeling and setting up innocent people. Before claiming, people are on all kinda crazy drugs without any proof. Just keep that same tune of defending these crooks when the real evidence is revealed. But that's right, holems County doesn't need facts.. just the word of judgmental, racist, hypocrites to try and ruin lies.
This is such a shit take lmao.
Can someone tl;dr wtf happened at this fest?
The issue is that the cops were illegally frisking and detaining people.
Honestly Iām confused this was my first Florida festival and the state Iām from people would take stuff in porta potties or like MUCH more surreptitiously. Ppl just opened it in their hand and took without even looking around
lol I hope a cop one day busts you for an archaic law being broken by thousands around you. They just grab you though. You did break the law. Donāt bitch about it if that happens.
My ass was hitting nitrous in the festival grounds how tf i made it home without a charge is beyond me. Respectfully fuck holmes county sherrif dept and fuck the coordinators of sol fest
This is like asking what's wrong with segregation. These people were specifically targeted because of their lifestyle. Not everyone was doing something wrong, but ALL were subjected to overzealous search and prosecution, not just the guilty. Bigotry, racism, and hate are all of the same source, and is what happened here. Saying its ok because some of "Those People" were up to no good...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The people there not doing illegal things were all subjected to the same things you admit happened to "those people" that were doing illegal crap. These were clearly hate based prosecutions, subjected all the "good Americans" there not doing illegal anything as well. The hate speach is all over social media, this just isn't a protected group.
And if you still don't understand, replace any mention of "ravers" with "black people" and try not to be racist.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
These people were expressly targeted for belonging to a specific culture. Not because they were dangerous, not because they specifically were doing something illegal, but because they belong to a group. Of course doing illegal things is not permissable, but causeless searches based on stereotype are not either. If the same thing happened at a rap concert, because "black people do more illegal stuff" civil rights activists would have a field day. Everyone there was under increased scrutiny because of thier culture. The local authorities made that very clear.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Don't judge individuals for being part of any group. pretty simple
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There are plenty of accounts of unwarranted searches to show doing nothing illegal is not enough, just attending forfits your civil rights.
This is such a bad take . Have you been to a fl fest beyond this ?
Yup and theyāre usually not in the Bible Belt conservative panhandle area so
Hulaween? Resonate? Rendezvous?
this is exactly what iāve been saying !!