Drugged up
March 13, 2013 at 7:34 pm | Posted in Security | 3 CommentsTags: acid, alcohol, child, crowd control, drug dealer, event, kid, LSD, magic mushroom, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, police, prevention, PSY acid, safe parties, security, sniffer dog, teen, teenager, U-NOME Security
A very bad trip down memory lane.
If you thought bad acid went out with Woodstock, think again. Today’s LSD is called ‘Psy acid’ and your teenager may be on it.
This news story backs up what my staff and I are dealing with at the coal face: hard drugs are filtering into teen events.
I’m very concerned, and I want parents to understand what’s readily available on the party scene.
Acid test
While pills are hard to detect, paper acid tabs are even harder. Hardest of all is liquid acid.
Kids bring this nearly odourless fluid to parties in bottles of perfume or mouthwash. It’s so potent, you needn’t drink it. Simply rubbing it onto skin triggers absorption and effect.
I find this particularly frightening.
Party poppers
I’ve also heard from party scene teens that some revellers are buying empty medicine capsules from health shops.
They then mix chopped psychotropic ‘magic’ mushrooms with ground coffee beans to make their own tablets.
Creeping menace
While working a recent 18th birthday with 150+ guests, I was alarmed at the amount of drug activity creeping into what used to be a fairly innocent celebration.
While hard drugs are far more difficult to detect than alcohol, we had warning signs at the start of the night.
These may prove useful if you’re planning a party.
Early warnings
- An unusually high percentage of teenagers had entered the party without alcohol. It turned out they were into other substances.
- The kids who weren’t drinking seemed agitated and their pupils were dilated.
- There was unusual activity around the toilets. This included milling, loitering, pacing, making phone calls and drinking water – all with a stressed or concerned expression.
- When the music started, some teens were extremely hyperactive on the dance floor. Their movements were strange and highly exaggerated. While some tottered around hugging strangers, many danced alone in their altered world.
- The DJ and several parents reported hearing conversations about buying pills.
Raw deal
Thoroughly alerted, my team and I swung into action. When I got the dealer’s name, I recognised it as he was actually on the guest list.
We stopped him from entering the party when we got a look at his enormous pupils. He was very agitated and quickly became aggressive – shouting and abusing parents and staff.
I called the police and tried to reason with this increasingly erratic youth. But when they arrived, he fled straight across a busy highway – narrowly escaping death.
As far as I know, he’s still out there.
Swabs or dogs?
Short of doing forensics or having a sniffer dog at your party, the options to keep drugs out are limited.
The most practical and affordable solution is to have experienced security staff working in cooperation with a diligent parent team to observe any unusual activity.
If you don’t, your special event may well end up in the toilet.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Alcohol is flooding our health system
January 27, 2013 at 12:07 am | Posted in Security | 2 CommentsTags: alcohol, BYO, child, death, drinking, duty of care, event, hospital, injury, kid, legislation, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, prevention, safe parties, secondary supply, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security, youth
WA’s new party laws won’t prevent this.
Here’s a lovely article that I read with interest, then dismay: Drunk callouts swamp ambos.
Did you know that Western Australia’s stretched ambulance crews are treating ten drunks a day?!
I find this and other figures sobering.
What a pity other people don’t!
Lie of the land
In WA, more than seven teenagers a week are taken to hospital for intoxication.
Unfortunately, the State’s new reactive party legislation will not prevent alcohol abuse at teen and young adult events.
Whether these parties have supplied or BYO alcohol, it must be managed and served properly.
The only way parents can ensure this is to have an alcohol management plan that includes Responsible Serving of Alcohol.
If they don’t, more and more children will be carted off to hospital – or worse.
Shame game
Parents who collect their intoxicated son or daughter from a party should ask (or be asked) a serious question:
How did they allow this to happen to their child?
I have first-hand experience of parents who’ve:
- Picked up their unconscious child from a party.
- Detoured to a hospital to get their kid’s stomach pumped.
- Collected a kid from hospital who was rushed by ambulance from a party.
- Sent the party host the ambulance and/or hospital bill!
Seriously: does this look like a recipe for ‘good times’ to you?
Parental guidance
It’s really quite simple: adults hosting events must be made accountable
Until we have a party management system that requires parents to apply for a permit that ensures they fully discharge their duty of care, kids will continue to end up in hospitals.
And coffins.
So what will it take?
Must we wait until your family is torn apart by (totally preventable) injury and loss?
The answer is right in front of you.
Please read this and think about it!
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Pool of thought
January 1, 2013 at 7:54 pm | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: alcohol, bottle, child, drinking, kid, Naomi Oakley, parent, pool, public bath, security, swimming pool, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security, youth
Can we heed the warning signs?
Swimming at my local outdoor pool, I heard two lifeguards discussing the previous day’s events (when the temperature topped 35 degrees Celsius).
I thought a lifeguard’s role was to watch the water and keep people safe.
Alas, it now seems the job description has changed.
New breed
As a teenager, few things beat hanging with friends at the pool.
While this hasn’t changed, today’s kids are arriving at the pool intoxicated.
They’re hiding alcohol in water bottles and other plastic containers.
They smuggle it onto pool grounds and drink it at (and in) the pool.
Not content to get drunk (thus risking their lives and the safety of other bathers) these model citizens then fornicate in the bushes and leave their rubbish behind – including beer cans and used condoms!
Yep.
Used condoms.
How anyone could (want to) have sex with crowds of people milling close by is beyond me.
It’s clear these teens have zero respect for their surroundings and community.
Cruel twist
Ironically, swimming centres have been reaching out to young people by providing DJs to play music during school holidays.
Unfortunately, the noble local council initiative of providing this entertainment may actually encourage the dreadful behaviour described above.
If it continues, swimming centres may even have to hire security.
And though I’m in the security sector, I mourn the need for guards to oversee the (hitherto) innocent iconic summer fun of a public swimming pool.
I’d much rather see parents communicate and spend time with their teens to save them from such unedifying behaviour.
That’s my opinion.
What do you think?
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Midnight son
December 27, 2012 at 8:14 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: party, Naomi Oakley, U-NOME Security, kid, parent, event, youth, prevention, safe parties, teenager, alcohol, drinking, teen, teenage, child, sexual assault, injury, duty of care, underage drinking, underage sex
WAKE. UP!
Kids.
They grow up so fast!
Like to know how fast?
A 24-year-old drives his kid brother to a girl’s twelfth birthday.
The party’s in the well-heeled Melbourne suburb of Brighton.
When the man returns to collect his brother several hours later, he sees pre-teens (i.e. children) staggering round the front yard, vomiting profusely on the hydrangeas.
His young brother gets into the car.
When quizzed by his older sibling, the boy reports that it was the birthday girl’s parents who supplied the (copious) alcohol at this party.
The boy goes on to say that he used his mobile phone to photograph 12-year-old guests having oral and penetrative sex at various concealed locations around the multi-million-dollar property.
Nor was he the sole happy snapper.
There’s every chance these images will end up online.
And stay there.
Forever.
This tawdry tale illustrates three points I’ve been making for years:
- Parents holding events for young people are utterly failing to show any duty of care.
- One can only hope this sexual activity was consensual. Far too often it is not.
- Alcohol leads to violence, injury and death. How many more kids must be killed at these parties before stupid parents realise it’s unacceptable to just let it happen?
Happy New Year?
Not unless we change our tune!
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Help your kids celebrate safely
November 14, 2012 at 1:30 am | Posted in Security | 11 CommentsTags: child, end of school, end of year, injury, kid, Naomi Oakley, safe parties, school break up, Schoolies, security, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security
Does your schoolie really know what they’re getting into?
It’s that time of year again.
Exams finish in a few weeks. Schoolies and end-of-year parties are just around the corner.
Parents are really stressing.
How do I know?
Because I’ve planned and worked at more than 500 teen events.
And because I have an 18-year-old daughter of my own.
Freak-out season
Parents are extremely concerned at the idea of their teenager heading interstate or overseas with a bunch of friends to celebrate the end of their school days.
Can you blame them?!
Think about it …
- Kids going on a plane.
- Staying in accommodation that you (and they) have little or no reliable information about.
- Celebrating in an unfamiliar area or country, surrounded by strangers, with different laws and customs.
- Bad scenarios that can (and unfortunately do) unravel on these trips include theft, accident, injury, (sexual) assault, alcohol poisoning, bad drugs, corrupt officials … the list goes on.
Many parents feel helpless, torn between:
- Fear for their children.
- The desire to let them enjoy their freedom.
It’s enough to make you freak!
Solution
Over the last few months (including a few sleepless nights!) I’ve been designing a service to give parents some peace of mind.
The aim? To ensure that if kids mess up or get in a tricky situation while away from the safety of home, there’s someone to call apart from (or in addition to) local police.
My solution? To offer a service where Safe Partying Australia Welfare Officers:
- Travel to and stay in the same area as your kids.
- Suss things out on the ground.
- Give your kids vital awareness tips for the location.
- Remain within walking distance of them.
- Be on call to respond swiftly should the need arise.
Safe Partying Australia staff are Melbourne-based and have extensive security and safety experience with teens. These caring professionals can assist parents and teens for as long as they’re needed.
Confidentiality is guaranteed. In other words, unless there’s a requirement for parents to be notified about something, ‘what happens on the trip stays on the trip’.
If you’d like to know more about this valuable service, email me today!
It may well be the best call you ever make.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Why each parent should have 20 kids
July 30, 2012 at 5:10 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: alcohol, bottle, child, crowd control, drinking, duty of care, event, fight, gatecrasher, injury, kid, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security, venue, violence, youth
Less really is more.
As teen parties get bigger, riskier and more elaborate, host parents are finding there’s extra help at hand: other parents and responsible (i.e. mature, sober) adults.
This is good news, as parents planning teen events need all the help they can get.
They also need to realise some really important points.
Key among these is the ratio of parents to kids.
Numbers game
If you work on 1 parent for every 15-20 kids, you take a massive step in the right direction.
This manageable ratio means you can task parents to areas that invariably cause problems, like:
- Monitor toilets and bathrooms to prevent these areas being trashed.
- Observe bedrooms to discourage unwanted activity.
- Manage the alcohol area for reasons too important and numerous to list!
- Patrol fences and other perimeter areas to thwart gatecrashers.
On the list
Another vital thing is to ensure you have the guest list at least 3 days before the event and DO NOT allow any more names to be added.
As the host parent, it’s up to YOU to provide a safe environment for the kids and security staff who come to your home or other venue.
If you tell me you’re having 100 kids, I’ll tell you to have 2 crowd control professionals and 5 parents.
I know this for a fact, because I’ve kept more than 700 teen events incident free.
Some host parents agree to my recommendation.
But when my staff and I arrive at their event, we often find 140 kids and only 2 parents.
This not only infuriates me, it puts everyone in and around the party in danger.
Here’s how.
Eight steps to chaos
- You can NOT manage a bar with just two parents.
- Your two security staff (if you’re wise enough to book them) will have their hands full securing your front door, enforcing your guest list and searching for drugs and alcohol.
- With no adults available to check your perimeter, unwanted guests will stream over the back fence like rodents.
- People will start vomiting on couches and behind doors.
- Fights will start to simmer all over the place.
- The situation will become volatile, needing just a small push to become an all-in brawl.
- With no parents to stop them, your back-door gatecrashes will start trashing your home.
- With the adults now totally outnumbered, you’ll then blame me and my staff for not entering your home to sort out your self-made disaster (and cop a bottle in the head for our trouble).
Get the picture?
I sure hope so, as I’m NOT making this up.
Your move
I can’t force you to do the right thing.
As a ‘grown-up’, you’re free to make your own mistakes.
But if you do, you may not only harm yourself, your kids, your possessions and your home.
You may also risk the lives of others – along with the chronic and crippling legal, financial and moral consequences of your arrogance, carelessness and stupidity.
So by all means do your own thing, if you must.
But when all hell breaks loose at your event, don’t you dare try to pass the buck.
KNOW THAT THE ONLY ONE TO BLAME IS YOU!
If, on the other hand, you decide to take a reasonable and responsible approach to hosting a teen party, read my positive proposal for change.
It’s all there.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
100 is enough!
June 28, 2012 at 5:36 am | Posted in Security | 1 CommentTags: alcohol, child, crowd control, drinking, event, fight, gatecrasher, kid, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, police, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, U-NOME Security, venue, violence, youth
Keep it to close friends …
As our communities struggle to cope with the rise of teen parties, we now have a popularity contest:
100 guests (or more) is the new way to be cool and hip!
Yes, teen parties are getting bigger. I’m now regularly speaking to parents planning 150+ guest events for kids as young as 14!
Yesterday I spoke with a father planning a 200-guest 18th. I naturally assumed this was a double birthday.
Wrong! His daughter is just really really popular.
Whatever happened to ‘one guest for each year of your life?!’
Weekend warriors
Last weekend I did two parties. One was for a 16-year-old (140 kids). The other for an 18-year-old (150 kids).
As usual, the ‘dry’16th in a lovely, up-market, bayside suburb proved the more eventful and difficult to handle.
Money sure doesn’t buy class – especially with events this big. Instead, you need 3 professional security staff and a ratio of 1 (sober, responsible) parent to every 10 kids.
This is extremely important. While you can get away with a ratio of 1:20 in smaller events, big parties are much greater than the sum of their parts.
Why security?
Parents and security, working in concert, are absolutely vital. Among their many responsibilities, they must:
- Staff every door, window and other entry and point. (Gatecrashers are like rats; they can get in anywhere.)
- Cloak all bags. (Some are the size of suitcases: 60% are filled with alcohol.)
- Detect kids smoking cannabis in toilets. (Yes, Mum and Dad, your darling babies really do use drugs.)
- Patrol grounds and move on kids drinking in bushes and dark spots.
- Catch and evict kids trying to enter under false names.
As you do all this, you can expect to see teens swearing and abusing parents, neighbours, security staff, police, passers by and each other.
Teens in groups with a few drinks on board believe they’re invincible and often want to ‘take on’ adults en masse.
Yet every time I witness this outside a venue, the parents of the mob are nowhere to be seen.
Solution
If you’re a parent wishing for a safer (more fun, less litigious) event, here’s what to do:
- Keep guest numbers below a manageable 100.
- Even if it’s an alcohol-free event, expect most kids to bring booze in bags and cloak them accordingly.
- Expect half the guests to ‘pre-load’ on grog before they rock up. If you see them gathering in groups or loitering under trees outside your venue, that’s what they’re doing.
- Expect gatecrashers. And fear them. A crowd of drunk boys has no respect for adults – quite the opposite. So think twice about approaching them, as they’ll likely attack you as an authority figure.
Lastly, why does any child under 18 even need a boozy party?
Alcohol-fuelled celebrations for minors are not mandatory.
Go roller-skating.
Go cart racing.
Go to a movie.
Do whatever else it takes to talk your child out of the worst decision they may ever make.
And if you think I write this blog just to flog my security business, think again.
I have no desire see your precious teen paralytic, assaulted and face-down in dog shit.
Nor should you.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Failure to plan = planning to fail
May 28, 2012 at 3:19 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: accident, child, crowd control, drinking, duty of care, event, injury, kid, legislation, loss, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, Party Plan Checklist, police, safe parties, security, social media, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security, venue, youth
How to keep the cops from your door.
The mayhem caused by unplanned teen parties is alarming. With no experience of planning a successful teen event, parents are continually putting kids in harm’s way.
As Managing Director of U-Nome Security and Founder of Safe Partying Australia, I’ve planned and worked at more than 700 teenage parties.
Every weekend, I see first-hand exactly why parties are causing tragedy across our nation.
I often wonder how many injuries in the home result from mismanaged parties. Though this was a mature-aged event, it highlights the risks of homes unsuitable for celebrations.
Sadly, this sort of tragedy is far from rare.
Today’s teen parties are more likely to be held in homes. This is because most public venues no longer support them.
To make things worse, there are many more teen events.
20 years ago, people celebrated turning 21. These days, every birthday from 13 on is seen as ‘significant’.
I believe this spike in birthday celebrations is due to American television now available online or via cable in most homes. Our kids are watching teen movies and music videos that promote the coolness of ‘Sweet 16’ and other birthdays.
So, with more events in more homes, we have problems.
While most private dwellings have limited public liability cover in case something goes wrong, it’s far wiser to prevent problems (and subsequent claims) before they occur.
To this end, I inspect every party venue in advance. The many issues I find and flag include:
- Swimming pools.
- Rickety balconies designed and made for domestic use only.
- Extremely steep stair wells.
- Homes in the middle of renovations.
- Homes on busy roads.
Combine these risk elements with underage drinking and explosive social networking and you literally have a recipe for disaster.
I believe that if we had legislation to protect kids at parties, it would:
- Increase community security.
- Ensure our young people return home safely.
- Minimise injury claims stemming from teen party mayhem.
- Reduce the financial impact on our community (e.g. wasted emergency service call-outs and pressure on our already-stretched health system).
You may think this is all someone else’s problem.
It isn’t.
Will you wait until your child fails to come home?
And two grim-faced police officers wake you at 3 am
with a heart-stopping knock at your door?
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
The west ain’t the best!
May 15, 2012 at 3:50 am | Posted in Security | Leave a commentTags: bottle, child, crowd control, event, fight, gang, injury, kid, legislation, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, police, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security, venue, violence, youth
Heading to a sad state of affairs.
Perth has been having so many major problems with teen parties that I have to say my piece.
Since the start of March, I’ve counted more than 30 teen events that have hit the media for all the wrong reasons.
The most serious incident was last week when gatecrashers attacked, stabbed and hospitalised four young departing guests.
These figures show that emergency service providers are being tied up unnecessarily every weekend.
Dealing with teen party chaos is stopping units from attending (or preventing!) more legitimate jobs such as road accidents, serious assaults and other crimes.
I shudder even to estimate the cost of using our precious police and ambulance services to clean up the messes stupid parents create!
Western Australia’s long coastline and party-friendly climate have a dark side: WA ‘leads’ the nation in teen party mayhem.
As a result, this otherwise impressive State must make radical changes in relation to teen events.
You may think I’m like a computer virus – always popping up in your face.
But if your child doesn’t make it home from their next party, you’ll wish someone (anyone!) had answered these vital questions I keep raising.
Every single party drama I’ve read about could have been avoided if we had suitable legislation in place.
It’s crazy …
You need a permit to own a dog, dig a pool or build a verandah.
Yet you don’t need a permit to responsibly plan and manage an event that ensures the safety of guests, neighbours and the community.
The days of ‘quiet’ teen parties for up to 100 kids are over.
Make a stand, WA, before it’s too late!
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Teen parties & sexual assault
May 2, 2012 at 5:30 am | Posted in Security | 1 CommentTags: alcohol, child, crowd control, death, drinking, duty of care, event, injury, kid, legislation, loss, Naomi Oakley, parent, party, prevention, safe parties, security, teen, teenage, teenager, tragedy, U-NOME Security, venue, youth
A tragic combination.
The link between teen parties and sexual assault is real and alarming. Here’s the latest horrific story.
How many more times must this happen before we wake up from this nightmare?!
I was recently involved in a situation that resulted in a young birthday boy being charged with sexual assault at a party. Prior to this event, I warned the host parents to control alcohol and organise responsible adults to help manage the party.
Alas, my advice was ignored.
Countless times I’ve seen girls passed out from too much alcohol on vacant blocks near parties. Usually, their girlfriends abandon them to pursue their own (unsafe) sexploits in the bushes and the dark.
Teens leaving parties by themselves is also a common scenario.
In my security company, staff don’t just help parents monitor booze-related issues during an event. At the end of the night, they also engage with kids to convince them to head home with a group of friends or make alternative transport arrangements.
Unfortunately, in most cases, kids with a few drinks under their belt feel invincible.
Worse, there are sick individuals (teen and adult) eager to take advantage of them in and after these events.
Parents who host parties can minimise the risks if they provide adequate duty of care by assigning responsible (and sober!) parents to:
- Monitor bedrooms, toilets and hiding places.
- Establish how guests are getting home.
The latter precaution may prevent kids from walking home alone or entering a vehicle driven by someone who is unlicensed, unknown to them, or too intoxicated to drive.
Each weekend, as I head home at around 2 am from working at a party, I see two or three young women drunk, alone and wearing barely a stitch of clothing.
I firmly believe that legislative change in relation to teen events could prevent the horrendous situations I’ve cited.
I want my kids to get home from parties safely.
How about you?
Click here to learn more.
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
Naomi Oakley
Recent Comments
gets.sakura.ne.jp on Happy snaps paulhassing on Drugged up paulhassing on Drugged up
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
