Lessons from football

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has been engaged with the various football clubs around London and with the FA in addressing the seemingly never-ending demand for police resources throughout each season. Whilst clubs accept that they have primary responsibility for crowds within their venues, and pay police costs if police are deployed inside, discussions still remain unresolved as to who is responsible for the costs of policing made necessary by the behaviour of football fans outside the stadium or away from the ground. These discussions have allowed police to ‘pass responsibility’ back to the local authorities for them to ensure road closures around football stadiums are properly authorised and implemented, but this further highlights the importance of developing good working relationships between all stakeholders for any and every event, and for events to be planned with sufficient time for proper planning and resourcing, and to allow the discussions around liability and costs to be standing agenda items.

The MPS is keen to work with LAEOG and NOEA, and other interested parties, including the ACPO to progress these issues.