Soccer police urged to adopt 'softly softly' approach

Police in Portugal should not use heavy-handed tactics to curb football hooliganism at Euro 2004, a psychologist said today.

Dr Clifford Stott, from the University of Liverpool, is recommending that low-profile policing should be used to control fans’ behaviour instead.

Dr Stott has been working in partnership with Otto M.J. Adang, of the Netherlands Police, to advise the Portuguese Public Security Police (PSP) on their tactics by assessing the effectiveness of policing methods employed in previous tournaments.

Their research, published today in The Psychologist, suggests that low-profile, information-led policing, where officers interact with supporters in a friendly manner and on the basis of fans’ behaviour rather than their reputation, is the most effective strategy for reducing hooliganism.

Dr Stott said: “Having observed fans of English teams playing in Europe over the past three years, we found that large-scale disorder tended to emerge and escalate because indiscriminate, heavy-handed policing generated a group mentality among large numbers of fans that was based upon shared perceptions that the police action was illegitimate.

“This had the effect of drawing ordinary fans into conflict with the police. We discovered that employing riot police to tackle the problem of hooliganism during Euro 2000 was at best ineffectual and at worst counterproductive.

“Fans who would normally have no intention of engaging in hooliganism came to see conflict with the police as acceptable.”