LUFC DAVE wrote:
any chance you could let us know what it was like following the copper around???
Copy of the report sent to the fsf. Cheers
Police Shadowing – Sheffield United vs Cardiff City – 24th October 2009
The invite to shadow the match day commanders at Sheffield United v Cardiff City came about following several complaints that had been made following the same fixture last season, when there had been widespread disorder, where Cardiff City Coaches had been attacked, followed on by street fighting of a serious nature. Cardiff City fans complained at the time of heavy handed, inappropriate and ineffective policing, and that they had been offered little or no protection from the Sheffield fans on that day. Complaints had been channelled through the FSF, and as a result, an invite was given from Superintendent Martin Scothern of the South Yorkshire police, to see at first hand the work of the police at this sensitive fixture, and to shadow the match day commanders as they controlled the fans over the entire day.
Ash Connor and I reported to the Snig Hill Headquarters of the SYP at 10.30am. Martin Scothern welcomed us, and set the scene for the day. We were shown the Silver control room, with the banks of directly linked CCTV cameras around the area of the ground and the city centre. There were some 25-30 staff in the room, dealing with all aspects of the operation, including telephone staff, Radio operators, CCTV controllers, and an individual charged solely with updating a software package allocating resources to various locations around the vicinity of the ground and town centre.
We were then introduced to Bronze Commander, Richard Butterworth who we were to follow during the day.
The first meeting we attended was the main pre operation briefing for all controlling officers, including the 3 bronze commanders, traffic, mounted police, Police liaison officer, football intelligence officer, and safety officers. This was a formal style meeting, reviewing the detailed action plan of the day, asking for input, concerns and issues from all those present, and putting across the tone of the day to all the senior officers present. That tone was very positive, with the superintendent repeatedly stressing the issue of how the visiting fans perceived the SYP, and how that could be improved upon. It was stressed that an objective of friendly cooperation should be briefed to all the officers on duty that day.
Following this meeting, we attended one of the Bronze Commanders briefing to all the officers on duty. This was held in a cinema style briefing room with some 80-100 officers present at each briefing. The message of friendly cooperation given at the earlier pre operation briefing was reinforced to the gathered officers.
At this point Ash and I were taken by control van from Snig Hill down to Bramall Lane, where we were taken to the Community room for a packed lunch. The scale of the operation was never more apparent here, with food bags for all police on duty being prepared here (500+). The standard of the meal itself was excellent.
We then followed Richard Butterworth down to the coach liaison point outside the away turnstiles on Bramall Lane. We witnessed the process of closing the roads, preparing for the first convoy of Cardiff coaches, positioning units so as to effectively secure the area, and once arrived, ensuring the Cardiff fans were safely allowed to reach their turnstiles, and queue for entry without hindrance. Richard was in constant contact via his radio with the Silver control room back at Snig Hill. We were made aware of the Welsh police spotters who in turn identified several “risk” supporters amongst the Cardiff contingent. They were closely monitored as they walked towards the turnstiles, and stewards were made aware of their presence in the queue. The 2nd wave of coaches arrived at 2.40pm, and just prior to 3.00pm, most of the visiting fans had arrived and entered the ground.
The entire operation was split into 3 phases – Pre match, match and post match. At this point, the operation moved to the 2nd “match” phase, and we were taken to the police control box within the John Street stand.
We were welcomed in the box by the clubs safety officer who briefly explained how the control box works, and the facilities available to the staff there. This was our first view of the pitch, and the match, which given the nature of the exciting high scoring game created something of a distraction to all in the room. Taunting from both sets of fans just below the box, however, concentrated the mind to the task in hand, and, with the help of both the Sheffield safety officer, and his Welsh counterpart, stewards were swiftly dispatched to form a barrier between the posturing fans.
Two incidents of note were the casing off a security camera fell off its mounting, narrowly missing a small child in the John Street stand, and a party on a mini bus from Hinckley not attending the match drawing the attention of the external CCTV. The falling camera cover had potential to be most serious, with it missing the child by inches. The party from Hinckley were checking into the Hotel on Bramall Lane half way through the 2nd half. One of the passengers decided to urinate up the side of a parked car in the main car park. This was spotted by the CCTV operators, and a call to a police officer meant he was soon being questioned as to his behaviour. As a side note, the driver of the minibus was suspected of being drunk and was breathalysed.
Towards the end of the game, we moved with Richard back to the Bramall Lane area to witness the crowd management of the main flash point areas. Deployments of units alongside the coaches helped diffuse any potential flash points, though there were concerns that some of the officers were not acting as instructed, and were failing to talk with the Cardiff fans to build a degree of trust and support. There were several instances of officers not deploying as per Richards instructions, which he was aware of and was duly noted.
Once the coaches had been loaded, and moved on by the motorcycle escort, we accompanied Richard back to Snig Hill to attend a debriefing session with all the relevant Commanders. I was asked for my feedback on the day and advised them that the attitude of the police towards the fans was more than helpful, and that the central planning of the operation was, at all times, mindful of the perception of the fans towards the police. The day finished at 7.30pm
The following points can be taken from our experience from the day
1. The police were more than mindful of how they were perceived by the fans
2. The lessons of the mistakes last year appeared to have been learned and acted upon.
3. Big Brother really IS watching you. There appeared very little that went unnoticed by the police, be it on the ground, or via CCTV.
4. The best intentions of the Match day commanders can sometimes be thwarted by lack of communication in the field. That appeared a major frustration of Richard. Communications were generally good, but it appears that too often a sergeant in the field will do their own thing, as opposed to clear prepared instructions. Whilst that can be a good thing sometimes, the potential to unravel carefully laid plans is obvious.
5. The issue of cost of policing appeared very high on the agenda. Constant reference was made to how, in Richards opinion, the clubs should steward the event more, especially in the streets immediately surrounding the ground. There appeared an intention to, wherever possible, scale down the police operation
6. If you go to a match at Bramall Lane, don’t sit under the camera mounting
Overall, an interesting day. I was impressed by the attention to detail and the willingness of the police to make everyone’s day pass as peacefully as possible, and the obvious willingness to help resolve previous issues amongst the Cardiff fans. Ash spoke to some Cardiff fans who confirmed that they were more than pleased with the reception they received and the general standard of policing over the day.
Our thanks to all the police who made us most welcome, especially Richard and Martin.
Geoff Milton
Home
Anyway glad to know more about people who post and it would be nice one matchday to have a social meet up.
