Q & A Session with Mike Dorans
posted by Alan Palmer on Wednesday 17th of June 2009 01:27:41 PM
Q & A Session with Mike Dorans - Public Liaison/Intelligence Officer.
The Trust was pleased to welcome Mike Dorans to talk to fans after the AGM on 11th June. Mike had volunteered to come and answer questions put to him on the day and in advance, via the Internet, concerning the Policing of Palace matches, home and away.
He started by giving a very brief overview of his job, which is overseeing the security arrangements for the policing of Palace fans and liasing with other Football Intelligence officers. He then took questions. Set out below are the questions and the abridged answers.
Q. Why do the Police at Palace stop people smoking in open areas within the ground?
A. Mike considers the rule to be ridiculous but it is the Law that you cannot smoke inside a public place and the Football League has designated the whole of any football stadium as inside. The police do not give priority to enforcing it but will do so if asked specifically by the club. He and his officers frequently walk straight past people smoking especially round the side of the Holmesdale where there is the open grassed space and do not take action.
The law applies to everyone and Simon Jordan was ejected from Colchester for smoking inside the ground so it is applied across the board. He is aware that some clubs allow people out at half time and then back in again although that can have security implications if fans mix outside. Some other clubs are experimenting with smokers’ areas, which are designated as being outside the Stadium although it is not clear if they are within the letter of the Football League law. He would be happy to try and work with the club if they wanted to do something similar.
Q What happened at Charlton Away last Season and can anything be done about it?
A. Mike was not at the ground and he said that on reflection he was sorry that he was in the main operations room and not there. He said that in future he would ensure that he was at the ground and able to intervene if necessary. He had made many representations about what had gone on but it had reached the stage where he as a Police Officer could not take things any further. He was extremely unhappy with the reported actions of the Charlton stewards. He confirmed that the Head of Security was the Assistant Governor at Belmarsh and that many of the stewards were prison officers. He has raised the high level of ejections at the Police Liaison Officers conference for Championship clubs and will raise it again at the National Conference as Charlton have a higher rate of ejections for all matches and not just Palace.
It would seem that things went very wrong on the night and that the stewards have used the many ground regulations to try and justify their actions. It is now down to the Ombudsman to deal with those fans that have taken their complaints all the way. Mike said he had tried to encourage others who were ejected to take things further but many did not want to. He also mentioned that he was officially banned from the Valley as due to his questioning of the stewards behaviour and requests for information he was told he would not be admitted.
Q. Why were there problems with crowd dispersal at Charlton at Home last season?
A. There had been police at Norwood Junction station but they had left to deal with a stabbing incident actually outside the Police Station as a result of a fight between Palace and Charlton fans. That was seen as more important than ensuring that there were no delays at the station. Charlton fans had not been kept in the ground as at the last home match they had carried out some £30,000 worth of damage to the Arthur Wait stand when they were kept back. The club had asked if they could be let go as soon as possible and the police had allowed that to happen.
Q. When Palace play away and the train routes cross those for Brighton/Millwall/Charlton fans travelling away why is there no police presence on the trains?
A. The Transport Police are informed of every possible clash by Mike and his opposite numbers at the other clubs. However the Transport Police do not see Palace fans as a particular threat unless there is something very definite reported. They do not therefore tend to arrange a presence on the train. Fans should be aware that there is unlikely to be any police on the train if, for example (as happened last year), Palace are playing Bristol City and Brighton playing Swindon. Fans who are concerned should travel without colours or arrange to take a different route.
We would like to thank Mike for turning up and if there was demand for another meeting with fans he said he would happily come along. He also stressed that he is always available to talk if there were any particular problems that fans have and they can contact him any time. He praised Palace fans as being very easy to police and said he enjoyed his job and mixing with the fans.
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