Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

Inside Out joined the police as they prepared for Hull City to meet Everton at the KC Stadium.

The police classify games as Category a, b or c - with c being the most serious.

The Everton game is a Category c, so of the highest risk according to the information the police have.

The preparations and policing of the game, for example the number of officers used, is determined by these categories and intelligence in the run-up.

Preparing for matchday

The police operation begins in the days before the game. Senior officers meet staff at the stadium to discuss their tactics.

Chief Inspector Darren Downs: intercepting trouble

The information the police have suggests that some of the away fans are not violent but are antisocial and that there is some ‘criminal intent’.

On match day, Merseyside Police have sent their 'spotters' over to identify potential trouble makers.

They travel to a pub in Howden, 25 miles from the stadium, where they find Everton supporters drinking in the sunshine and all seems well.

At the stadium there’s a high visibility police presence.

The Merseyside Police spotters say some of the men on the bus are known to have caused problems before.

When the bus arrives at the stadium, every single fan is filmed, questioned and searched… they’re checking for valid tickets and searching for weapons.

Successful day

As the game begins, club officials and police officers continuously monitor the crowd, and make sure that ‘risk supporters’ are held to stop them leaving early, possibly looking for trouble.

At the end of the game, there is no real trouble but the spotters make sure any ‘risk supporters’ are put back onto the buses… They don’t want them going into the city.

One fan told Inside Out they felt Humberside Police's tactics were heavy handed:

Police in riot gear - a necessary measure?

"We’ve had a good day and had some good banter with the fans.

"That line of riot police is fearsome. We don’t need those nutters in riot gear.

"We had enough of that in the 80s."

It took 201 police officers and £35,000 to police this one game, although most of that cost was picked up by the football club.

The match commander, Chief Inspector Darren Downs, says it is justified:

"For members of the public it must be frustrating seeing that many police officers here because there’s no trouble.

"Some of the troublemakers were here, and some of our boys who cause trouble, but we got in between them and intercepted them and stopped it."