The Cost of Policing around West Ham

Last night's problems outside the West Ham football ground must have cost the police many thousands of pounds. A Helicopter, 20 horses, and hundreds of police, including 200 riot police, were involved in an effort to keep order between so-called West Ham and Millwall fans.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the evening's events the police costs will be picked up by the London taxpayer unless the club contributes to the cause.

At a guess those costs might be at least £250,000 and possibly a lot more.

It will be interesting to see what costs are paid by West Ham. Obviously they will pay for the police inside the ground just as any other club. But they may well argue, just as Hereford United chairman Graham Turner does, that the cost of policing outside the ground is not their responsibility particularily if it is proven that the majority of those involved were not genuine supporters of either club.

Meanwhile the Football Supporters Federation has issued the following statement:

The FSF opposes all forms of violence and we hope an appropriate investigation finds out what happened and takes the proper action,” said FSF chair Malcolm Clarke. “This is a serious incident and, like the vast majority of West Ham and Millwall supporters, we condemn the scenes we have seen which were entirely unacceptable.”

“However the last four years of Home Office figures show that violence is decreasing, you are safer at football than at any time for decades, and we should not forget this.”

This story will be big news, which in itself shows how rare these incidents now are, and the overwhelming majority will find the scenes as depressing as we do. The latest Home Office figures showed that 37 million fans attended football matches in England and Wales last year with only 3,842 arrests made – one in every 10,000 fans.

Most arrests at football tend to be related to alcohol consumption, pitch incursions and public order offences with only one in 10 made for acts of violence. The majority of offences take place away from stadiums meaning less than half a fan per game, per stadium was arrested inside a football ground on last year’s figures.

The FSF does not tolerate violence and in no way condones the actions of the mindless few who spoil things for the many but we shouldn’t forget - violence is society’s problem too, not just football’s.

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