Hooligan Hotline allows CU football spectators to police one another
At any time during a CU home game, authorities have the ability to watch live video of the spectator in their seat.
In addition, the common fan now has the ability to call an anonymous tip line and report unruly or inappropriate conduct on the part of other fans. This is the Hooligan Hotline.
“We started the hotline last year, based largely on NFL happenings,” Commander Brad Wiesley of the CUPD said. “Several fans needed additional help controlling the situation in the stadium.”
Wiesley said that the hotline averages only a few calls per game, but that the calls do come. The reasons behind the calls range from nearby spectators using excessive foul language, to fighting, to alcohol and drug infringements.
Authorities take the calls from two command posts, one in the stadium press box, the other overlooking the stadium from the nearby Duane Towers.
There are so many security cameras in use at the park that, according to Wiesley, security personnel can almost always get a view of what’s going on in a given section of the stands.
After taking the call, authorities are dispatched to the scene of the tip, to deal with the situation. This can mean anything from writing a ticket to ejecting a spectator from the game.
Garrett Cosgrove, a junior integrative physiology major, said that he had never heard of the Hooligan Hotline.
“I think it’s an invasion of rights,” Cosgrove said.”Instead of police doing their work themselves, they try to get us to narc on each other.”
When asked if he would ever put a call in to the hotline, he firmly stated that he would not.
This sentiment was echoed by Josh Abrams, a sophomore pre-journalism and mass communication major.
Abrams, who until now had also never heard of the hotline, agreed that he would never utilize such a device.
“It’s pretty lame, to narc on somebody,” Abrams said.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Andrew Frankel at andrew.frankel@colorado.edu.
