CALLING in ‘foreign experts’ when something goes wrong in Cyprus is often viewed as double-speak for putting off much-needed change.
But after the latest bout of football hooliganism in Limassol last week left 11 police officers injured, the police announcement that British experts in football violence are coming over this month will inevitably fuel hopes that police will soon be equipped with vital strategies to control violent crowds.
With the wealth of hard-earned experience learned on the streets around Millwall and West Ham in the 1970s and 80s, when the riots and mayhem gave rise to hooliganism being dubbed ‘the English Disease’, British policemen really can offer expert advice.
And it won’t come a moment too soon for a retired British police officer, now living in Larnaca, who watched in horror the TV footage of the beleaguered policemen unable to control the crowds last weekend.
“What I saw on television was the police aimlessly running around as individuals and not as a coordinated unit,” said 60-year-old Ian Anderson. “It looked like they had not been trained to work together, and if they don’t do this, they will be terribly affected.”
This was not the fault of the policemen on the ground however. Anderson (not his real name) said the responsibility lies with the commanding officers who need to provide better training and coordination.
Asked about the current strategy, Michael Katsunotos, Police Spokesman, said a review of strategy and training needs is exactly what the police are in the process of doing. Next week there will be a joint meeting with the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) Cyprus Sporting Association (KOA) Ministry of Justice and Public Order and the police.
“We realised we had to change our policy to not just preventing fans fighting, but to making more arrests as a deterrent,” he said.
To this end, they police have hand picked 240 policemen to join a newly created riot control unit, and the CFA has already agreed to pay for London Metropolitan policemen to train up the units. The police have also requested advice from the Portuguese based on their experience of hosting the 2004 UEFA Euro football championship.
Anderson agrees that training should be their main priority. “Training is the watchword. If they give the (police) men on the street specialised crowd control training, they will stop the hooliganism within a month. More importantly, the senior officers and chief inspectors need training in how to command and direct the riot police.”
He gave an example of a ‘wedge’ manoeuvre that could have protected the police last weekend. This allows police units to manoeuvre safely and make arrests. “During my time we used the old police tactic of wedges, with ten police constables either side of a sergeant at the point,” he said.
Using such tactics, police can successfully arrest, prosecute and deter hooligans.
“There should be mass arrests, with a system to snatch, hold, process and charge those clearly guilty of public order offences with special courts set up to provide instant justice; probably within a week or two of committing the offence.”
Anderson also advocates some robust measures to discourage hooligans. “All the time there is no price to pay and the hooligans get off scot free they will continue. “Consideration should be made to spraying hooligans with their faces covered with indelible dye so they can be identified and arrested at the police force’s leisure. This is drastic, but the end justifies the means. Video is a fantastic weapon. If the law does not permit it then it needs to be changed.”
He added that in the UK, no attack on a policeman can occur without a swift and tough response; at any cost the assailant will be caught and arrested.
Beyond the physical tactics says Anderson, police must gather intelligence about the rioters to predict their moves and prosecute them.
“They also need better intelligence. These gangs are organised and only interested in violence; for example they had a car full of sticks and Molotov cocktails.”
For cases like this he suggested police officers have to go under cover, join the rioters and gain intelligence.
Help from the general public is obviously crucial too. “Clearly all of society, including parents, needs to pull together and stamp this disease out.”
As for why Anderson felt compelled to speak out, the answer is simple.
“I just don’t like to see a police force in a democratic country maligned.”
