Police engagement with football fans online during the English 2022/23 season

Dialogue policing favours constructive forms of police-fan engagement, and there is overwhelming evidence that it leads to greater trust and self-regulation behaviours amongst fans. However, little is known about if and how dialogue policing can be facilitated online. To this end, five police football accounts in England were studied on the social media platform X across the 2022/23 season. Research findings show that the police used three key tactics, linked to chatting about congenial subject matter, influencing fans’ movements and behaviour, and tackling crime and disorder. On one hand, police football accounts used a soft communication approach, and yet two-way communication was rare. This is significant because it shows that the police incorporated elements of dialogue-based policing, although more must now be done by the police to speak with and not to fans.