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Policing Major Soccer Events

NCJ Number
148178
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 61 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1994) Pages: 42-45
Author(s)
L Nylen
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article provides background information on, and an overview of, those areas normally addressed when planning and handling soccer spectators and crowd control at major soccer events in Europe.
Abstract
It is important for police to distinguish among various kinds of troublemakers. The police handling of each individual should reflect whether the person is peaceable, high-risk, or criminally inclined. Troublemakers and those who are predisposed to criminal behavior should be identified as soon as possible. Police should establish a low threshold for intervention in the form of selected arrests. Removing leaders, agitators, and violent persons from the crowd through selective arrests normally defuses the situation and helps to deter further violence. Every effort should be made to avoid pitting spectators against the police. Police operations should be courteous, clear, and professional while making plain the threshold of unacceptable behavior. One effective tactic is to conduct de-escalating interventions at fans' local meeting places. Care must be taken to forestall attempts by criminally inclined spectators to provoke individual police officers into aggressive action. Officers must be trained to use flexible and case-adapted tactics. Police should obtain intelligence information on the actions or events that may occur at a particular soccer game. They can then be prepared to counter them. 6 footnotes