MESSAGE SENT ON BEHALF OF ROBERT MITCHELL, CHIEF INSPECTOR, PORTSMOUTH DISTRICT

Dear Parent/Carer

I am writing to you to seek your support in raising some awareness to provide safeguarding to your son/daughter. 

As you are probably aware, Portsmouth and Southampton have been drawn in the Carabao Cup to play at 19:45 hours on Tuesday 24th September 2019. The game is likely to be a sell out with around 20,000 people visiting Fratton Park. 2,000 tickets have been allocated to Southampton.  Hampshire Constabulary are working with our partners to ensure the safety of everyone at the game and to try and support the success of the overall event. As part of this work, we want to ensure that those in attendance and those living within the community are aware of the need to act responsibly, be kind to one another and to report any concerns or issues around individual situations or people at risk. If it is an emergency, happening right there and then, or the observing person has concerns for safety to others, they should call 999. If the concerns are not urgent or requiring a police response, then the observer should call 101, or visit our website (https://www.hampshire.police.uk) to report the information online.

During the evening of the match, there will be a strong police presence and we will be engaging with the crowds and people going to the game. Any behaviour seen to put others at risk will result in police action to ensure the safety of all.

We are asking for your support in ensuring that your son/daughter is aware that while this game will be an exciting and may be a challenging environment, emotions can run high and some of the behaviour may not be acceptable.

In order to ensure a safe and successful event for all, please ask them to think about this if they are within the immediate area of the ground during Tuesday evening and whether or not they need to be there. It is likely to be very busy before, during and after the game, with large crowds of people and a significant increase in traffic on the surrounding roads, and we are asking everyone to work with us to ensure we can meet our aim of keeping people safe.

Robert Mitchell

Chief Inspector

Portsmouth District