00:00Mark Rowley has questioned why organisers of events requiring police support, such as football matches, were not paying more for the policing costs.
00:13He cited the £70 million annual expense of policing football matches in the UK, much of which is linked to the Premier League with several games here in London, and suggested that these costs should not fall on local communities.
00:28The idea of passing these costs to football clubs has now been proposed before, and has faced pushback from sports bodies who warned it could threaten events and raise ticket prices as well.
00:44The Commissioner linked these views to broader funding challenges.
00:49He responded to a recent 2.3% annual increase in police funding announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently, saying it fell short of what was needed.
01:02He insisted that reform was essential to make the best use of limited resources.
01:08He has acknowledged that past attempts at similar reform, such as Labour's 2006 plans, were abandoned due to political resistance, but said that the need for change was now critical.
01:23When asked whether some crimes would be deprioritised due to resource limits, he said police were working to avoid this and remain committed to improving day-to-day safety for the citizens of London.
01:36But what do Londoners think about police funding when it comes to sporting events?
01:41Should that financial burden be on the taxpayer, or should it be on the sporting clubs?
01:47I feel like if the club is bringing a lot of people in who might not be from the area, and it's getting quite busy, then I think the club should need to sort out the security for that as well.
02:04Do you agree?
02:06I agree.
02:07Yeah, I agree.
02:08100% should be funded by the football clubs.
02:13I'm an Arsenal fan.
02:14We'd probably turn over 500 million a season.
02:17Spurs probably do 400 million a season.
02:21Man United, these are multi-billion corporations.
02:24And it's also over-policed.
02:26I live near Arsenal.
02:28There's more police than is needed for these particular occasions.
02:31I see vans, loads of police doing nothing, sitting around.
02:35When you look at an area like Fringery Park, where Arsenal is, there's a lot of crime in that particular area.
02:40And there's police who are hired for the football sitting in vans doing nothing.
02:43So absolutely, 100% should be fully funded by the police.
02:47I don't know, because I don't know what other areas.
02:48I feel like we should be going to different places as well.
02:51Because, I mean, it's good for the community, I guess.
