Undercover Drug Officers and Security at Coachella Music Festival

Updated March 18, 2026

Please be careful at the Coachella Music Festival if you plan on doing drugs or underage drinking. Although we certainly do not encourage anybody to use drugs, MDMA and cocaine are widely used and enjoyed at the festival by responsible adults seeking to improve the experience. The overwhelming majority of festival goers will enjoy their Molly or cocaine without any serious interference from law enforcement or security.

I have represented hundreds of people arrested for drugs at the Coachella Festvial.

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Beware Of Police

Festival goers should be aware that police are seeking to profit from the festival just like most everyone else in the valley and the festival is massively over-policed. For the cops it’s a free concert and a ton of overtime. Dozens of undercover officers watch the attendees for evidence of possession of drugs. According to 2025 press release, Alcohol Beverage Control had 30-35 undercover officers at the festival each weekend.

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Don’t expect to see sophisticated police work in stamping out the scourge of drugs at Coachella. In most of my festival cases, this is how people get arrested:

• Passing suspicious items shortly after clearing security. Undercover officers are probably watching you as you pass through security into the festival. Many unfortunate people pass through security and then take their pills or powder from their bra, underwear, or socks and pass it to a friend. Officers will then approach the unlucky subject and ask about the drugs or demand to search your bags or clothing. In 2024 and 2025, about 80% of the arrestees I spoke with were contacted by police near the entrance area. This is by far the most common location for arrests.
• Passing suspicious items around the locker area. Undercover officers will also be watching the locker area. If you try to look sly while passing something to a friend, you may find yourself confronted by an officer demanding you submit to a search and confess.

If you are doing drugs at the festival, be mindful that police are watching you and trying to make their arrest quotas. Many of the undercover officers are from the non-elite California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control – these aren’t exactly brilliant guys and the surveillance tactics are neither subtle nor sophisticated. Use your common sense and don’t be one of the unlucky few who gets arrested!

If an undercover officer does contact you, please DON’T CONFESS and DON’T AGREE TO A SEARCH of your pockets or bags. You have rights!

If you are arrested, the police will tell you not to worry – the arrest is only a minor inconvenience. They will take you to “festival jail” where you will be processed and given a ticket with a court date and released. You can enjoy the rest of the show! It will be months later before you have to deal with court and it may take years before you are denied employment, deported, or denied a professional license.

If you are cited or arrested, treat it like a real case from the first minute. Keep the ticket, take a photo of every document, write down where the contact happened, and preserve the names of any witnesses who saw what occurred. Do not text friends about what you were carrying. Do not post jokes or explanations online. What feels like a minor festival hassle can later turn into evidence used against you.

For a more detailed discussion, review my FAQ on drugs at the Coachella Festival and what happens if you are arrested and have to attend court.