ABSTRACT
Questions concerning the eects of dierent policing strategies on crowd behavior have been further endorsed by research on the policing of football crowds. In their evaluation of the European Championships 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands, Adang and Cuvelier (2001) found that two dierent styles of policing were evident across the eight dierent host cities. According to data collected from a series of structured observations they proposed that a “friendly and rm” or “low prole” concept was successfully carried out in ve cities, while a more “high prole” style was recorded in three. A high pro-le approach was measured in terms of signicantly greater visible deployment of uniformed police, riot police, and riot vehicles relative to low prole cities. Moreover, police were deployed in larger groups and were less friendly toward fans. eir study was also able to relate the dierent styles of policing to the number of “violent” incidents, the highest number of which were at xtures that had been assessed as “low risk” by the tournament authorities but that were policed in a high prole way. ese ndings indicated the value of the low prole approach, while suggesting a negative impact of high prole policing. However, Adang and Cuvelier (2001) only demonstrated that the style of policing has a relationship to public order at international tournaments but says nothing about the underlying crowd processes.
