RANGERS' success in tackling rowdyism at Ibrox was highlighted
yesterday when a crime prevention group from Germany visited the
stadium.
The visit was organised by Strathclyde police as part of a week-long
programme to celebrate the European Year of Older People and Solidarity
Between Generations.
A reciprocal exchange visit has been arranged with Glasgow's twin city
Nuremberg to study how to identify the problems of the elderly in
relation to crime.
The groups want to see if they can learn from each other and come up
with any new ways of tackling the problem.
The Glasgow delegation, which includes crime prevention officers,
students in criminology, and social workers, will visit Nuremberg later
this month.
As well as Ibrox the German crime prevention group visited elderly
homes to see the Alert system installed by Glasgow District Council's
housing department which gives elderly people 24-hour contact with
housing officials.
At Ibrox, Mr Alistair Hood, operations executive, explained how ground
improvements, legislation banning alcohol, improved stewarding, and
closed circuit televisions had helped to stamp out crowd trouble.
He said that during season 1991-92 the number of arrests averaged 1.84
at each game. Last season's figures were likely to be similar.
He pointed out that in the two most recent New Year's Day games
against Celtic at Ibrox, six and 14 arrests were made. This compared
with about 250 arrests at the same fixtures 10 years ago.
Mr Hood told the group: ''Elderly people, women, and children now make
up a substantial part of our home support.
''Ten years ago, when the bottles were flying and drink was flowing,
these kind of people would not have come along to Ibrox.''
Ms Heike Tombrink, 27, an external relations officer in Nuremberg,
said the group had been ''tremendously impressed'' with Ibrox. She said
authorities in Germany were considering the possibility of banning
alcohol. Ms Tombrink said the group had been surprised at the variety
of inter-agency co-operation in Glasgow, involving social work, police,
and voluntary groups such as Victim Support. She said the co-operation
did not exist to the same extent in Germany.
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