Data and technology to be piloted with Premier League to strengthen match day safety

The UK Football Policing Unit and the Premier League already work together to deliver safe and enjoyable matchdays for supporters. Pilot schemes will explore how new operational approaches can build on this success.

Police forces will work with Premier League clubs in London, Merseyside and the West Midlands, with the first projects rolling out next year set to include:

• Piloting drones to provide an improved picture of what is happening around football stadia and help manage risks to public safety more effectively;
• Leveraging data and AI-driven predictive modelling to understand crowd dynamics and enhance public safety; and
• Piloting live intelligence-led facial recognition to identify and prevent serious offenders attending matches, building on the experience of deployments that have already taken place at other major events.

The aim is to learn from these projects to establish if they enable safer and more effective delivery of large public events, as well as sharing best practice which could benefit other major events nationwide.

Chief Constable Mark Roberts, UK Football Policing Unit, the national lead for football policing, said: “This is a positive joint approach between policing, the Premier League and clubs to deliver safe and secure football events for supporters and the general public. It enables us to develop technologies that will assist us in our joint efforts and I cannot think of any similar initiative anywhere else in the world. The additional benefit is that it will allow us to develop national capability which is transferable to other areas of policing and public safety.”

Chief Constable Rob Carden, NPCC lead for Digital, Data and Technology, added: “As the national lead for digital, data and technology and a keen football fan myself, I am delighted to be working alongside the Premier League to explore how in better utilising technology we can make the beautiful game even better and crucially, safer for the public.

“The National Data and Analytics Office will be pivotal to the success of this work, unlocking the potential of policing data to better protect fans. I look forward to seeing how, in working together with a sector of this size and scale, we can demonstrate just how impactful the safe and responsible use of technology can be.”

Clare Sumner, Chief Policy and Social Impact Officer at the Premier League, said the experience and safety of fans was “a key priority”.

“The Premier League is committed to making our stadia as welcoming as possible for everyone,” she said.

“The Premier League recognises the significant contribution that police forces make to the safety of Premier League fans, both on match days and more broadly in the communities that our clubs are at the heart of. I am pleased that this partnership will take our collaboration further, building an even stronger relationship between the Premier League and police.”

Sarah Jones MP, Minister of State for Policing and Crime, said: “Every fan deserves to feel safe when they go to the game, so I welcome the Premier League working with the police to use cutting-edge technology at match days. By working together, we can ease pressure on officers, while improving public safety.”