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A Thanksgiving Eve go-go show scheduled at The Showplace Arena in Upper Marlboro was scrapped the day before the event by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission after promoters did not heed a warning weeks prior from Prince George's County police to cancel the show due to security risks, county officials said.

The county police department cited concerns ranging from violence at the show to vandalism and fights breaking out in the surrounding communities after the show as reasons why the show should be canceled, according to correspondence by police officials.

"In the past we have experienced robberies, large-scale fights, vandalism and other types of disorder at the local Wawas, McDonald's and other consumer venues from Marlboro to Clinton to Capitol Heights after large-scale go-go events," county police Deputy Chief Michael E. Blow wrote to M-NCPPC officials Nov. 5.

M-NCPPC owns the arena, which can seat more than 4,500 people, and the Maryland-National Capital Park Police oversee security at events there, said Park Police spokesman Lt. Stanley Johnson.

While 51 officers were scheduled to work security on the site, due to the violent nature of some of the bands booked, extra security would be needed, said county Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton in a letter to park police. However, due to the strains of overtime during the holiday season, the county police would not be able to provide that security, he said.

The last go-go event held at the arena in June cost the police department $8,200 in overtime hours, Hylton said in the letter.

The 51 officers scheduled to work at the arena would have been paid for through the show promoters, but the cost of bringing on officers in the surrounding community would have been paid for by the county, said county police spokeswoman Mistinette Mints.

To adequately protect the surrounding areas, Mints said from her experience she would expect needing at least 130 police officers.

Community activists were angered that taxpayers, not the promoters, were stuck paying for the police protection.

"We were not happy that they were spending our precious taxpayer dollars to basically support these promoters," said Clinton community activist Dorothy Carolyn Lowe.

County police sent park and planning police specific warnings about some of the bands and promoters involved in the show, including the Total Control Band or TCB, but after County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) felt the warnings were falling on "deaf ears," he asked park and planning Chairman Samuel Parker to pull the plug on the show, said James Keary, a spokesman for Johnson.

A phone number for members of TCB could not be located. A promoter for the event did not return a call for comment by press time.