LONDON--The Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) has claimed that football fans in England and Wales are mistreated and over-policed despite being mostly families and children. FSF spokeswoman Amanda Jacks told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that fans were "subject to heavy-handed policing week in, week out," although many were families and children. The demographic of match going fans has changed dramatically, with many more families, children and women," she said. "What we are saying to the police is judge us on our behavior at the time, and not our reputation." The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has rejected the claim, saying that 43 percent of the Premier League matches have no police presence, the BBC reported. The Assistant Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, Andrew Holt, stated, "If you look at a club like Sheffield Wednesday, perhaps 20 years ago South Yorkshire would have sent over 1,100 officers to a high risk match. "That figure today has dropped to below 300, which reflects the changes in football, and the change to the demographic [of fans]." This is while the FSF claims, "The Crown Prosecution Service pushes for the most severe punishment in cases involving football fans," and has labeled the police as "over-zealous" at football matches. FSF had previous surveyed its Northeast Division members on police behavior following numerous complaints by fans.
