London Police Form 696 Still Exists, and It's Still Unfairly Targeting Grime Shows

This article originally appeared on Noisey UK.

It's a slippery slope, directly tying enjoying live music to violence. Unless you accidentally whack someone in the face while doing a furious propellor motion with your arms to Skrillex—in which case, people should probably move out your way and maybe not speak to you actually—it's generally accepted that music and violence are two separate entities that do not logically correlate. Lyrics directly inciting violence through hate speech may be just about the only exception, and even then the lines between a true call to arms versus artistic license blur constantly. Despite this, a five-page document to try and clamp down on crime at gigs, known as Form 696, was still rolled out by London's Metropolitan Police in 2005. More than a decade later, it still exists—and yeah it's still trash, for reasons we will get into shortly.

So, why are we bringing it up today? According to a Victoria Derbyshire program investigation, aired on the BBC on Monday morning, Tory Culture Minister Matt Hancock has raised concerns with Mayor Sadiq Khan about the use of the form in London—still used across 21 boroughs—in an effort to finally get it revoked. To that end, here's a rundown of what exactly it is, and why you should give a shit.

WHAT IS IT?

"Form 696" is a risk assessment form that was first launched in October 2005 in response to a series of violent incidents at garage gigs in the early 2000s. "Two people were shot at a 'So Solid Crew' party in central London in October 2001," reads the only review of the form's efficiency, published by the new-defunct Metropolitan Police Authority in 2009. "Two people were shot in Turnmills nightclub in central London at the end of April 2003. Club promoters were asking for armed police to patrol club nights due to the fear of violence at events." After four more incidents in 2004 and 2005, the form was introduced. It's supposed to "check" the supposed danger of violence at any event, requesting the names, private addresses and phone numbers of all promoters and artists be submitted at least two weeks in advance for live shows that "predominantly features DJs or MCs performing to a recorded backing track."

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