Member's statement: Police Scotland: Searches
Member's statement by Mr Trevor Clarke on .
- MLA
- Mr Trevor Clarke
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 23 March 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Police Scotland: Searches
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5465257
Read the official Assembly record
Text
For Northern Ireland supporters of Rangers, and, indeed, Rangers themselves, Saturday finished up being an exceptionally good day, with a 4-1 win at home against Aberdeen. However, the day did not start so well. It was deeply disappointing to read on social media that a supporters' bus that had come from Northern Ireland was stopped and searched in Scotland. The first question that the police asked was not, "Are you visitors to Scotland?" but, "Are you football supporters?". Some will say that there are justifiable reasons for that, but I do not think that there are. If there had been any issues, or had there were materials that Police Scotland wished to find, they could have been easily accommodated when those people were entering the match. It reminds me of the debacle in Londonderry a few years ago, when the PSNI got on to buses with children on them, just as Police Scotland did at the weekend. Football, like every other sport, is a family sport. There were children on that bus on Saturday, who were disturbed by police entering the bus, making their way down it and searching bags. Some of the video stuff that I have seen shows small bags being searched. What exactly they were looking for, no one knows. The police did not indicate what, or who, they were looking for. It was very disturbing. I wrote to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Jo Farrell, on Saturday night and am looking forward to a response. I also read at the weekend that one of the supporters, who has been travelling for 20 years to most matches, said that that was the first time that he had witnessed such an act. That shows the gravity of the case. I do not know why the police felt it necessary to act in such a way. It was an overreach of their power, and I am very disappointed by what they have done. I look forward to hearing an explanation, if one ever comes, from Police Scotland.
339 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.38 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.81).
- Subject area: Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies.
- The overall probability was low and the text did not adopt any identity-based framing.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.14 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.38 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.08 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.52 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.55 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.38 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.81 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.13 |
| Adopts it | 0.05 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.90 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.09 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:06 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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