Charging Special Police Services

The police service is usually financed by public funds and serves the benefit of the public at large. However, there are situations where the police service makes charges to individuals and organizations to recover costs incurred in the delivery of their services. Section 25 of the Police Act 1996 provides that special police services is provided to any individual who has made payments of charges stipulated by statutory provisions. Special police services relate to policing of events such as concerts, football matches and other private events. The definition of special policing services and the conditions for charging events has been subject to legal litigation. Charging policies are intended to ensure that charges for special police services are levied effectively will protect the provision of police services and contributes to the funding of the police service.
In Reading Festival Limited v West Yorkshire Police Authority and latterly GMP v Wigan Athletic AFC it was held that an event is an occurrence out of the ordinary activities that takes place to provide an experience or activity for commercial l or non-commercial reasons. It noted that special police services are provided over the basic policing
The general principle of providing special police services are the same for commercial events, but they have been refined by recent cases such a GMP v Wigan AFC. Football matches are considered as a series of planned events that occur in a force area. Policies for policing football matches should take into consideration the operational policing requirements and the special police services provided at the request of the club organising the event. Important requirements for the provision of special police services include a formal agreement, a clear understanding of the chargeable amount and a clear policy of deployment and the event and around its