Policing's unevidenced narrative could see the service marginalised in legislative reforms of football

A proposed pilot scheme to allow football fans to drink alcohol in view of the pitch during some lower league games has been branded “irresponsible” by some senior police officers; but former Chief Superintendent and crowd policing specialist Owen West, now a Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University, believes the “unevidenced” policing narrative lacks coherency, and could leave the service marginalised as reform of the sport moves forward.