News and Events 

You are here:

Welcome to the home of policing at Reading Festival 2011.

Here you can find lots of information on how to stay safe, and get a unique insight into policing the world’s oldest popular music festival still in existence (albeit through several musical phases over the years!)

Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm on Richfield Avenue in central Reading, near the Caversham Bridge and 87,000 people are expected to attend in 2011.

The policing operation at the 2010 Reading Festival resulted in a fall in crime at the event. In 2010, there were 445 crimes on site, and in 2009 there were 530 festival offences. The main crime type, as in previous years, was thefts from tents which totalled 202. There were 128 thefts from people, 56 cannabis possessions and 20 other drug offences.

Superintendent Stuart Greenfield, Reading Local Police Area Commander, said: “I think that we can feel pleased with how our operation went in 2010. There are always things that you can seek to improve for the future but, with the help of the additional security patrols provided by Festival Republic, we significantly reduced serious crime and disorder at the 2010 festival which helped to make a safer and more enjoyable event for all those attending.”

Twitter logo Visit our Reading Festival Twitter feed (opens new window) - our Reading Festival team were on site, tweeting about what we were up to.

Check out the official Reading Festival website (opens new window), for all the Reading Festival essentials from the event organisers, Festival Republic.