Quote: nottinghamtiger "Trouble is that as soon as an arrest is made, the arresting officer has to stay with that one individual and cannot deal with other incidents. There seemed to be 8 police officers at the ground - if each one had made an arrest that would have left over a hundred others on the pitch who they could do nothing about. When they know there will be substantial evidence to make retrospective arrests, there is no need to do so immediately if it weakens the police's ability to restore order.'"
What you say makes sense as far as it goes but,if you read further in my post, you will see that I complained at the lack of resources thrown at the problem. You saw about eight police officers you say but it is unlikely that they were all initially deployed inside the ground as the RL would have to pay for them. You will have noticed that they arrived when the worst of the disorder was over and some of the Widnes 'fans' were returning to their end of the ground. They were probably initially deployed on crowd control outside the ground and had to be brought in. It is usual for a token police presence in the ground and the 'policing' of the crowd is down to the stewards. So given the situation they where in, you are right in your argument. My argument is that such situations of insufficient undertrained, physically deficient people policing such events should not arise. After all, it is not as if Widnes do not have a reputation for loutish behaviour.
Incidentally, on the video I saw a Widnes fan was detained by the police, yet the media reported that no arrests were made which must mean that he was released without charge or reported for summons which, again is the cheapest way of dealing with him. But is it the most effective? I think not.