Police Scotland accused of trying to turn young football fans into paid informants

The force is alleged to have discussed offering financial rewards in exchange for information on the movement of fans on match days.

Fans Against Criminalisation, a group set up to defend the rights of supporters, said they had emailed Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone about the claims on Friday, reports our sister title The Herald on Sunday.

A force spokesperson said: "We don't comment on operational matters. If any individual has any concerns we encourage them to contact Police Scotland."

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Relations between the police and football fans have been strained in recent years following the passage in 2012 of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act.

New offences were created by the anti-sectarianism legislation, which covered fans who were travelling to and from matches and included individuals who watched a game in the pub.

The Government argued that the provisions were necessary to deal with disorder, but campaigners believed the Act scapegoated fans and made them a target for the police. Cross-party opposition to the legislation led to it being repealed this year.

A new row has broken out over claims that police officers have been attempting to assemble a network of intelligence sources amongst fans.

Three young men agreed to speak to the Herald on Sunday about their experiences, on condition that their anonymity was protected.

John – not his real name – said that two police officers tried to reach him at his parents’ house in Motherwell in the last week of August, even though he does not live there.

The Motherwell fan said the officers told his parents that the force wanted his help to build “better policing links”, after which he agreed to meet them on the same day.

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“They told me they were trying to improve policing links. They said they would like to bring supporters and the police closer together in a positive manner,” he said.

He continued: “They wanted someone as a liaison contact who could call them in advance and say ‘there are only 10 fans travelling this week’ and they then wouldn’t have to deploy as many police officers.”

John said the officers were concerned about a younger group of Motherwell fans and “potential violence”.

He said: “They thought me being an older and more sensible head, I might have some information on this group, about how they may be travelling, what method of transport, and what time they were leaving.”

John, who refused the offer, added: “They said ‘if there was any potential information that you could provide us with, we could reward you in the way of money’.

“I was completely perplexed with the whole scenario. I found it very strange. I thought ‘is this the way people who are there to protect and serve should be treating members of the public?'”

A St Mirren fan, who we are referring to as “Peter”, said the police came to his door on August 24. Peter said he had helped organise a supporters’ march through Paisley after the Buddies won the league this year.

He said: “Once they were in [the house] they were talking about St Mirren and organised violence at football matches. I was like ‘this is not what we are about. We are not there to cause problems’.”

He continued: “They said that they knew I am a season ticket holder. I said it was quite strange that they knew that.

“They were wanting to know if there was going to be any organised fights, or if there was going to be groups of people travelling to certain places...If I knew that information, could I share it?”

Peter said the officers were “very pally” and flattered him: “They were trying to say ‘people look up to you, people treat you like a role model, if you were to say things to people they would listen, people would tell you information’.”

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Asked if he believed the officers were trying to get him to become an intelligence source, he said: “Yes.”

Peter added: “As a taxpayer, I find it ridiculous. Even after the OBFA [the repealed Act], fans are still treated as criminals. It seems like they are trying to get an informant ring on the go for football fans.

“It’s ridiculous that this amount of time, money and effort has been spent on trying to get football fans to snitch on other football fans for things that aren’t illegal, like how many people are travelling to a game.”

After being contacted by the police, Peter approached St Mirren about any dealings the club had had with the force in relation to him.

The club responded to him by email: “We have an information sharing protocol in place with Police Scotland, however I can confirm that no personal information was shared with them. We were merely asked to confirm if you were a current season ticket holder.”

The third example concerns a Celtic fan from Glasgow, James, who was charged under the Football Act in 2016 and whose case is coming to trial.

While sitting in the cells in a Glasgow police station after his arrest, he said two plain clothed officers walked in and led him to another room: “They said they were there to help with my case. All they wanted in return was for me to help them by giving them information when they asked for it.”

He said the officers wanted information on issues relating to football and on “Republican stuff”.

James said: “They said I would never need to go to a police station to meet them or anything like that, they would never come to the house. They said I could just meet them at a Costa [coffee shop], nobody would need to know.”

He added that the officers, who he described as not “normal police”, provided him with a mobile phone number, which they asked him to put in his sock.

The Celtic fan said nothing happened after the conversation, but said he knew of others who had been approached in a similar way. His lawyer, Paul Kavanagh, said his client alerted him to the incident at the time and gave him the mobile number.

A spokesperson for Fans Against Criminalisation said: “We are extremely alarmed to hear about officers approaching young people in this manner. Amid all the criticism of Police Scotland, to hear of claims that they are now trying to turn football fans into informants is a new low."

Labour MSP James Kelly said: "This is a deeply troubling situation. Despite the repeal of the maligned and redundant Football Act months ago, many fans are reporting that policing on match days is still unnecessarily heavy handed. The fact that three fans suggest they were asked to spy on others would confirm those suspicions.

"Football fans are second class citizens to the SNP Government, and that is why Labour has called for an independent review of the way football policing is carried out.”