RockNess music revellers praised for their good behaviour
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The authorities have praised the behaviour of the vast majority of music fans at Rockness 2012 despite there being a death.
They said their thoughts are with the family of 19-year-old Alex Herriot from Portobello, Edinburgh, who died at the festival at the weekend.
Police inquiries into his death continue and one line of inquiry being followed is that it may have been drugs related.
They said the event on the shores of Loch Ness passed without a large number of incidents of disorder and given the size of the crowd, around 30,000, the number of incidents was relatively low.
Police carried out 235 positive drugs searches over the weekend and dealt with six people for alleged drug dealing offences.
Officers also dealt with six cases of alleged assault, 12 breaches of the peace and only 10 thefts during the course of the three day music festival.
Superintendent Stevie Mackay, event commander at Rockness, said: "Clearly our thoughts are with the family of young Alex Herriot following his tragic death at the weekend. Our inquiries into the circumstances continue."
He added: "From a policing perspective the event passed relatively safely, with low levels of crime and disorder.
"The general behaviour of festival goers has been very good and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and act responsibly.
"Due to our tried and tested traffic management plan the egress from the event has so far gone smoothly, despite the volume of traffic on the road today."
David Haas, Inverness City Manager with Highland Council, said: "Naturally everyone’s thoughts are with the family of Alex Herriot following his tragic death at the weekend.
"We will continue to work in partnership with our partners to ensure the drugs message continues to get out there.
"Aside from the tragic death, the event itself passed very safely with low levels of crime and disorder, which is testament to not only the well behaved crowd, but the multi-agency plans put in place prior to the event."
People treated by the Red Cross in the campsite was 155 and in the Ness-tival area, 277.
The British Red Cross say these are similar to figures for last year and that they are generally pleased at how the festival has gone.
Brian Liddle, Senior Services Manager for the British Red Cross (Northern Scotland Area), said: "From a Red Cross perspective Rockness 2012 went very well. We dealt with around the same number of people as last year.
"Obviously it is a tragedy for the family of the young boy who died at the event and our thoughts are with them.
"It’s the biggest event in our calendar and we are just pleased to have been there to support our partners as much as possible."
NHS Highland said that up until 6am this morning Raigmore Hospital dealt with 23 attendances to the department from RockNess.
This includes two rpeople that were believed to have taken legal highs who were admitted as a precaution - they were discharged last night.
A police spokesman said that post mortem has not taken place as yet on Mr Herriot and it could take a number of days to establish an exact cause of death.
SEE the Strathy out this Thursday for a run-down and photos on the fun at RockNess!
