Less than 90 arrests of thousands of Ipswich festival-goers

UPDATE FEBRUARY 21: OF the thousands of people who got into the eco- friendly community vibe at the weekend's Earth Frequency Festival, only 89 had a run in with police.

Police carried out close to 4000 RBT's and 168 roadside drug tests during the four-day road and on-site operation at Peak Crossing.

Two drink drivers and 22 drug drivers were nabbed while police issued 97 traffic infringement notices.

Police also arrested 89 people who were charged with a total of 154 offences, including drug driving, drink driving, disqualified driving, possessing a dangerous drug, possessing drug utensils, breach of bail conditions, stealing, attempted unlawful entry to a premises and obstruct police.

While the majority of festival-goers and drivers avoided breaking the law, police were faced with an increase in overall offences detected over the four day period compared to last year's results.

Officer in charge and operation field commander Acting Sergeant Joshua Piper said the policing response was a success.

He said the Ipswich Tactical Crime Squad made 60 arrests as part of the on-site operations.

"It is disappointing that some drivers display a disregard for road safety. Detecting and stopping these impaired drivers has likely saved the life of themselves or another member of the community," he said.

INITIAL: CLOSE to 2000 random breath tests and not one drunk driver.

They are the positive results Harrisville police have received from their multi-faceted operation at the Earth Frequency Festival over the past four days.

At the mid-way point of the festival, police had tested 1888 drivers for drugs and alcohol, with nine positive drug tests and no positive alcohol tests.

Police arrested 41 people on a total of 67 charges including for dangerous drugs, possession of drug utensils, drug driving and attempted unlawful entry of a premises.

READ MORE: Earth Frequency transforms Ipswich

Traffic tickets were issues to 76 drivers.

"The overall behaviour of festival attendees has been positive and the police presence inside the festival has been well received by patrons," Harrisville Police Station officer in charge Joshua Piper said.

Festival organiser Paul Abad said he was happy with the results when it came to drink driving.

"We have been continuing and increasing our public education campaign around road safety and promoting the festival guidelines in the lead up to the event," he said.

"This year we have a self-testing service available at the festival also where festival goers can do a drink or drug test before driving to make sure they are safe to drive, and this seems to be having a good effect on the stats we are seeing."