Operation Sherbrook: Oxley police gear up for Tamworth Country Music Festival with extra police arriving

A mini-bus carrying the first load of officers was in Tamworth on Thursday morning as Operation Sherbrook – the festival policing operation – gets underway.

Police have warned there will be no second chances for those who play up as officers target alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour.

“We really expect people to have a great time,” Sherbook Commander and Acting Superintendent Jeff Budd said.

“[The festival] is there to be enjoyed, do it in moderation, don’t get yourself too intoxicated and take care of yourself in the heat.”

Police reinforcements on motorbikes, buggies, pushbikes as well as on foot and in highway patrol, have been deployed to the city to police the extra 50,000 visitors expected to descend on the city.

The local liquor accord’s licencing rules also still apply throughout the festival meaning a 1am lockout for all patrons looking to get into licensed venues, a ban on spirits’ shots, and no energy-drink mixers or high-alcohol pre-mixed drinks can be purchased after 10pm.

The city’s CCTV, which police say is “one of the best in the state” will be full swing and being monitored, but it will be the police that you won’t see, that will also make a difference, Acting Superintendent Budd said.

Plain clothes police will rove around the city’s streets, in and out of the venues, as well as the camping grounds, to bolster the high-visibility blitz by officers and detect suspicious activity, including opportunistic thieves.

“We do have covert police and cops on motorbikes and pushbikes all through those areas camping but commonsense prevails, don’t leave your big fridges out in the open, talk to your neighbours, talk to your fellow campers and have those discussions, don’t give an opportunity to anyone to knock it off,” he said.

Last year, police declared the festival as one of the safest on record, and they’re hoping for a repeat, but have done months of planning.

Acting Superintendent Budd said despite tragedies around the world, police were prepared for everything, but there was no intelligence to suggest any security threat for the festival.

“Look it’s a consideration for us, we take on board all the risk assessments that we possibly can and considerations prior to the event and event planning and that has been on our agenda,” he said.

He said council had “put some vehicle mitigation strategies in place” but there were nothing new, and were there last year.

“That’s all about making sure it’s nice and safe,” he said. 

“There is nothing to suggest that we are at risk, other than normal.”