U.K. sending three police officers to World Cup for ‘cultural’ help

England supporters gesture towards a line of police officers during a standoff in downtown Lille, France Wednesday, June 15, 2016 one day ahead of the Euro 2016 Group B soccer match against Wales in nearby Lens. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

LONDON -- British police are sending just three officers to the U.S. as “cultural interpreters” during the World Cup given the lack of any U.S. funding, U.K. police said on Thursday.

By contrast, 40 officers went to Germany for the 2024 European Championship, with financing by the hosts, said Mark Roberts, who leads football policing.

“The States are not funding mobile travel delegations this time,” Roberts told reporters of next month’s tournament where England and Scotland will play their three opening group games in the U.S.

Both nations have a huge travelling fan base and the English have a history of hooliganism, though the exorbitant cost may put many off this tournament which is being co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“Our fans at World Cups are really well behaved ... I’m not anticipating problems, but clearly we’d rather have a presence there that can get involved if we are seeing issues develop,” Roberts added, stressing that he was not criticizing the U.S. decision nor was there hostility to a U.K. deployment.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said U.S. President Donald Trump was “focused on ensuring that this is not only an incredible experience for all fans and visitors, but also the safest and most secure in history.”

Two additional British officers will be working with U.S. authorities at the Washington-based International Police Cooperation Center.

“Most of the other European countries just aren’t bothering” to send their own officers to the tournament, Roberts added.

‘Cultural assistance’

Though the U.K. and U.S. share the same language and historical roots, British police accompanying fans would act as “cultural interpreters” to assist U.S. counterparts.

“We’ll be saying to the local police often, ‘This isn’t a problem’,” Roberts said.

“They (fans) might be noisy, they might be loud, clearly they may have a drink or two, but we will be often trying to calm people down and say, ‘This is not a problem, it’s not a precursor to disorder.’”

Police are actually anticipating more problems domestically, linked to alcohol consumption and late kickoff times for British audiences, than at the tournament.

Mike Ankers, deputy director of the Football Policing Unit, said police would also be focusing on online abuse.

He cited the conviction of a man who sent racially abusive messages to England defender Jess Carter during the women’s European Championship.

“What I would say is that anybody that’s thinking about it ... we’ve got experts as digital media investigators that will find you and will make sure that we take action.”

(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Ben Makori; Editing by Andrew Cawthornem and Ken Ferris)