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This is a repository copy of Policing football 'risk'? A participant action research case study of a liaison-based approach to 'public order'.

Across the last 10 years, the policing of demonstrations in the UK has witnessed substantive change in terms of both statutory guidance and operational practices. With this study, we highlight how the policing of football crowds in the UK has, to date, yet to undergo similar change, despite being covered by the same statutory guidance. On the basis of largely qualitative data and analysis generated through a quasi-ethnographic approach, we explore the dynamics of police football crowd interactions. We identify how current approaches can fail to adequately understand the nature of risk and lead to a disproportionate deployment of resources both of which have the potential to increase rather than reduce the risk of disorder. We propose that forces develop and test innovative approaches to football policing that are engrained in existing public order guidance, but which move away from a reliance upon fixed categories of risk, focus more on the positive human rights of supporters, and prioritize the tactical deployment of bespoke resources to improve dialogue with fans.

This article expands upon research on the use of Police Liaison Teams (PLTs) within public order policing operations surrounding football fixtures. Using a Participant Action Research approach, the article reports on PLT use across multiple events and locations with different police forces, different personnel and fans and divergent command perspectives, as well as comparative data from PLT and non-PLT events. It identifies how accountability dynamics associated with the classification and management of risk in the policing of football may explain the continued reliance on more coercive policing tactics, as well as a number of other barriers that hinder the development of PLT use at football. Despite this, the article provides evidence that PLTs can offer similar benefits to the policing of football as they do to the policing of protest. In particular, we argue that developing such approaches will make the policing of football more human-rights complaint.