Lord’s has a well-integrated security system

Let others check the tickets but watch the crowd at the ground as keenly as Sachin Tendulkar watches the ball.

If Calcutta police and cricket officials at Eden Gardens were to consult former Scotland Yard officer Tarique Ghaffur ahead of the Test against South Africa, this is what the man experienced in securing sporting events would say.

Cops in Calcutta have a point when they tell the Cricket Association of Bengal that ticket checking should not be part of their brief. At sporting events in London, checking of tickets is normally done by ground staff or private security firms hired by the management. But ultimately, stressed Ghaffur, who was the most senior Asian officer in the Metropolitan Police, the cops have to be in charge.

“You will generally see very few police. The checking of tickets is done by stewards or private security firms. But it is important to have a well-integrated system. I always put in place a command and control post manned by the police, so there is monitoring by CCTV, we know what the ground staff, the stewards, the private security firms are doing,” he explained.

Ghaffur, who left Scotland Yard in November 2008 as an assistant commissioner with part of his job being planning police security at the 2012 London Olympics, summed up his advice in the light of the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore last year: “It should be policing with a light touch but it should be intrusive if the threat level is high or if trouble breaks out.”

Sometimes, the heavy presence of police can itself cause the trouble, but if the threat level was high the police would go in with a “heavy” hand. “I would have intelligence and police officers, who know what to look for, supervising checking of people going in to make sure no one is carrying a gun or explosives. If the threat level was very high, I would make sure there was very intrusive policing during the checking.”

Tarique Ghaffur

In Britain, there is more policing of football fixtures because cricket matches are thought to attract more “gentlemanly” supporters though in recent years that has not always been the case — especially at T20 games.

“Today, there are three threats,” explained Ghaffur, who now heads a private security consultancy. “First, it’s where the players stay, normally hotels. Then, the route that the players take to the ground, and thirdly, the venue itself.”

Calcutta police must take a holistic view of security, which was what Ghaffur was doing when drawing up elaborate plans to make the Olympics safe. “That means not only securing the venue, the hotel, the travel route but even checking who is coming into the city.”