Less than a week after Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin expressed concern about the holding of fetes in every nook and cranny across Barbados, the plug has been pulled on one of them.
Police have turned down an application to hold the No Hands The House Party fete scheduled to be held at a residence in Rowans Park South, St George, on Friday night.
Publicized on the popular Facebook social network, the intended fete had also met the firm disapproval of 75 plus residents who lodged a petition against the event.
“We’ve turned down the request for holding the fete based on the fact that there’s no public entertainment licence and it was being proposed to be held in a residential area,” Superintendent of Police David Johnson told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday.
“We can’t have that sort of behaviour going on in residential areas,” he added, while noting a previous fete had been held at the same place before without appropriate permission.
In a letter to the Commissioner early this month, residents of Rowans Park South stated that about two months ago they were misled into believing a casual party was being held at the said residence.
“To our utter disappointment the proposed party was actually a public fete for a fee being held at the private residence mentioned. The music was extremely loud and was played until 4:30 a.m. the following morning and we the residents suffered atrocious abuse from the patrons of that event,” the letter stated.
According to the petititoners, there was a serious abuse of property, as well as verbal abuse and illegal activity.
One resident, who preferred not to be named for fear of reprisal, estimated the crowd at the previous fete to be over 500 and described it as a “nightmare”.
“It was a horrible experience; I can’t describe it in words. They were urinating on your property, blocking the driveway and even hurling expletives at you. Everything in the house was shaking. It was a very uncomfortable feeling and a violation of your home,” he said.
The man said he supported the Commissioner’s concern about fetes of this nature, noting that based on his own experience it could be a “prime breeding ground for those who were involved in crime”.
He pointed out that there was a nursing home just about 250 yards away from the staged event.
Police have also confirmed receiving several other complaints from another popular fete location in St George and a residential district in St Philip.
One complaint said that in addition to loud music being played throughout the night until the next morning, patrons got involved in illegal drugs and even threatened residents who objected to the intrusion of their privacy.
A St Philip woman described the situation in her neighbourhood as frightening and said there were occasions when patrons got involved in sexual activity on people’s properties.
She also took issue with how their complaints were sometimes met by police: with dismissive tones and uncaring attitudes.
“It is just unbelievable,” she said.
Last week, Dottin, expressing concern over what he termed a “fete mentality” and fetes as a cover for crime, indicated senior officers would now determine the approval of such events.
