Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Drug snooping at UCSD's Sun God

Will California cops boycott Snoop Dogg photo ops?

"Me n my deputy dogg," wrote Snoop Dogg on his Instagram site
"Me n my deputy dogg," wrote Snoop Dogg on his Instagram site

As a corps of well-paid cops from around the state converge on UCSD's drug-and-booze-plagued Sun God music festival next month, their minds may turn to this year’s happenings at a famous Texas music blow-out.

Years of drug overdoses, alcohol poisonings, and at least one student death, have cast an increasingly harsh spotlight on the Sun God concert, with school officials forced to spend more on security and reduce crowd size to deal with problems.

"To ensure that the quality of Sun God was not diminished during this transitional year, [UCSD] agreed, on a one-time basis, to both backfill lost revenue from the elimination of non-affiliate tickets and to underwrite additional security measures in north campus," said an August 31, 2014, report on last year's event by interim vice chancellor of student affairs Alan Houston. Lost revenue alone was $165,000, according to the document.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"We received assistance from 15 law enforcement agencies, and were scheduled to have 57% more hours of police service throughout the day," said one Houston account. A phalanx of rent-a-cops was also dispatched. "In 2013 we deployed 280 StaffPro personnel; in 2014 we hired 400 StaffPro, a 43% increase."

Though "the overall number of student conduct violations during Sun God weekend decreased in absolute numbers," the report says, the level of incidents "remained constant when calculated per 1000 attendees."

For this year's May 3 event, university officials promised even more precautions and a double-fenced beer garden to keep students under control.

Then came the big announcement.

"In the year that the Sun God Task Force emphasized the importance of drug and alcohol safety, they brought in Snoop Dogg, an icon of drug use (mostly marijuana), as the primary headliner for the festival," notes the Guardian, UCSD's student newspaper, in an April 8 editorial."

The piece quoted Seraphin Raya the associate vice president of the school's Associated Students Concerts & Events arm, as telling the paper, "the organization believes that Snoop Dogg doesn’t promote the kind of excessive or dangerous drug use that has sent UCSD students to the hospital."

But California cops policing Sun God who are approached by the rapper for photo ops may be wary after a Texas lawman recently found himself under disciplinary fire.

As reported by the Dallas Morning News April 2, "Snoop Dogg saw trooper Billy Spears and asked for a picture at the South by Southwest music festival two weeks ago, which he later posted on the social media site Instagram."

The rapper titled the photo with the cop, attired in his regular law enforcement regalia, including traditional state trooper's Stetson, "Me n my deputy dogg."

According to the paper, the citation against Spears said, "While working a secondary employment job, Trooper Spears took a photo with a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges. The public figure posted the photo on social media and it reflects poorly on the Agency."

Added the Morning News story, "Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Broadus, has been convicted several times of drug possession. In 1993, he faced a murder charge when his bodyguard shot and killed a rival gang member. Snoop Dogg and the bodyguard eventually were acquitted of the charge."

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

For nutty pies at Pizza by Aromi in La Mesa

Sicilian cousins add to the Italian goodness they dish out around Lake Murray
"Me n my deputy dogg," wrote Snoop Dogg on his Instagram site
"Me n my deputy dogg," wrote Snoop Dogg on his Instagram site

As a corps of well-paid cops from around the state converge on UCSD's drug-and-booze-plagued Sun God music festival next month, their minds may turn to this year’s happenings at a famous Texas music blow-out.

Years of drug overdoses, alcohol poisonings, and at least one student death, have cast an increasingly harsh spotlight on the Sun God concert, with school officials forced to spend more on security and reduce crowd size to deal with problems.

"To ensure that the quality of Sun God was not diminished during this transitional year, [UCSD] agreed, on a one-time basis, to both backfill lost revenue from the elimination of non-affiliate tickets and to underwrite additional security measures in north campus," said an August 31, 2014, report on last year's event by interim vice chancellor of student affairs Alan Houston. Lost revenue alone was $165,000, according to the document.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"We received assistance from 15 law enforcement agencies, and were scheduled to have 57% more hours of police service throughout the day," said one Houston account. A phalanx of rent-a-cops was also dispatched. "In 2013 we deployed 280 StaffPro personnel; in 2014 we hired 400 StaffPro, a 43% increase."

Though "the overall number of student conduct violations during Sun God weekend decreased in absolute numbers," the report says, the level of incidents "remained constant when calculated per 1000 attendees."

For this year's May 3 event, university officials promised even more precautions and a double-fenced beer garden to keep students under control.

Then came the big announcement.

"In the year that the Sun God Task Force emphasized the importance of drug and alcohol safety, they brought in Snoop Dogg, an icon of drug use (mostly marijuana), as the primary headliner for the festival," notes the Guardian, UCSD's student newspaper, in an April 8 editorial."

The piece quoted Seraphin Raya the associate vice president of the school's Associated Students Concerts & Events arm, as telling the paper, "the organization believes that Snoop Dogg doesn’t promote the kind of excessive or dangerous drug use that has sent UCSD students to the hospital."

But California cops policing Sun God who are approached by the rapper for photo ops may be wary after a Texas lawman recently found himself under disciplinary fire.

As reported by the Dallas Morning News April 2, "Snoop Dogg saw trooper Billy Spears and asked for a picture at the South by Southwest music festival two weeks ago, which he later posted on the social media site Instagram."

The rapper titled the photo with the cop, attired in his regular law enforcement regalia, including traditional state trooper's Stetson, "Me n my deputy dogg."

According to the paper, the citation against Spears said, "While working a secondary employment job, Trooper Spears took a photo with a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges. The public figure posted the photo on social media and it reflects poorly on the Agency."

Added the Morning News story, "Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Broadus, has been convicted several times of drug possession. In 1993, he faced a murder charge when his bodyguard shot and killed a rival gang member. Snoop Dogg and the bodyguard eventually were acquitted of the charge."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Holiday Experiences

As soon as Halloween is over, it's Christmas time in my mind
Next Article

SD Symphony singer tells what it’s like behind the scenes

Conductor Payare even looks like Mahler
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader