... because L.A. Weekly scribe Dennis Romero is wondering about our level of police presence. Heck, he almost seems faintly hopeful that Vegas can't handle a rave of such magnitude -- a different animal, he notes, than a New Year's Eve bash or NASCAR event:
The LAPD long ago acknowledged that ravers are way different than, say, sports fans: Staffing levels are worlds away from USC football games at the coliseum, which can attract nearly 100,000 people but only see about 125 badges. Raves would get 250. And even with the post-EDC staffing of 450 cops at the last two raves at the Coliseum/Sports Arena property, arrests and hospitalizations were consistent with 2010's numbers. The increase in officers barely made a dent. Pasquale Rotella, CEO of EDC promotion company Insomniac Events, has said he hopes to see 100,000 people a day in Vegas, which would beat last year's 160,000, two-day crowd numbers for EDC L.A., widely believed to be the largest rave yet in the United States. So, doing the math, the LAPD would put at least 450 cops on EDC if it was here again. Las Vegas Metro Police's deployment would be nearly one third of the officers the L.A. department felt was necessary to patrol a much smaller event.