In the past week, the debate has heated up again after the major conflict between the police and football over the so-called condition ladder, which was introduced in 2019.
The police have not previously appeared for interviews on the issue, but on Tuesday several media had the opportunity to speak with Stefan Hector, head of the operational unit at Noa, the national operational department, which is in charge of the issue at the authority.
The goal is for the police to have a very small role around football matches in five years, says Stefan Hector.
According to the police, a third of the matches this year have been in a difficult state of order.
– We see that we see that the amount of violence, riots and riots is low, and there is no organizer or club that stands out but it is relatively evenly distributed. We think that is positive. What remains is the use of Bengals. It is the disorder that remains, says Stefan Hector.
Safety is the most important thing in terms of pyrotechnics, he says.
– If I dare to take a slightly neck-breaking approach, then the illegalities that take place at football matches are one of the police authority’s absolute smallest problems. Match safety is one of our top priorities. There is a distinction in between.
– Stefan Hector, head of the operational unit at Noa, the police’s national operational department.
Photo: Erik Simander / Bildbyrån
But is it so dangerous, when it burns so much but so few accidents happen?
– Yes, and here there is an expert authority that decides whether it is dangerous, and it is not the police but we rest on assessments from other authorities about this with fire safety.
Stefan Hector sees that several different measures will be required to get rid of Bengali fires in the stands.
– It can be sanctions from unions, it can be responsibility from other authorities, for example the rescue service.
A proposal he raises is that the association can impose sanctions on clubs in the way Uefa can impose fines or points deductions if Bengali fires are used.
– There are not that many Bengals burning in the matches that take place within that framework. I am not saying that we should do that, but I am saying that we, and then I do not mean the police in the first place but the sport itself, you could look at it, you could consider.
In international matches organized by Uefa, there is no tradition of burning Bengali fires. However, it happens in the Champions League.
– I do not have details, but when there are solutions that seem to work in the rest of Europe, they can be worth looking at, perhaps not primarily from the police side but the sport itself, says Stefan Hector.
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