Giants vs. 49ers: Dressing Cops in Giants Gear Is Crossing Line of Deception

If you're a San Francisco 49ers fan who plans on attending the NFC Championship Game and heckling some New York Giants supporters, then you might want to think twice because you may find yourself in handcuffs.

According to Rick Chandler of NBC Sports, the city of San Francisco plans on enlisting 25 percent more police officers than usual to patrol Candlestick Park on Sunday. While that isn't much of a surprise, what is surprising is that there are plans to disguise some undercover cops as Giants fans.

I understand where the police department is coming from after there was reportedly some poor behavior for 49ers fans toward New Orleans Saints fans last week, but I think this is crossing the line. A visible police presence should be enough to prevent fan violence, this is simply resorting to trickery.

You could argue that anyone who is dumb enough to mess with an undercover cop deserves to be ejected from the game, but I don't think they should be deceived. If it was made clear that there were a couple officers on patrol in every section, then I think that would be just as effective and it would be more forthcoming at the same time.

It's never good to see people acting like jerks and making opposing fans feel uncomfortable at football games, but to some degree it's the nature of the beast. Who's to say that these undercover cops dressed as fans will have proper discretion when dealing with a heckler?

There's a difference between somebody who is mean spirited and somebody who is just having a little fun. Since the job of these undercover officers will solely be to stop fan hostility, I'm not sure they'll be willing or able to make the proper distinction.

With the Niners just one win away from going back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1994 season, it's a given that fans are going to be a bit more charged up than usual. Because of that, I wouldn't be surprise if a few intoxicated fans fell into the trap, but I think that disguising officers is more trouble than it's really worth.

There is nothing wrong with letting the fans know that there will be far more police present than usual and that there will be a zero-tolerance policy. I think that is the way that this situation should be handled and I think it would sufficiently curtail any possible fan violence.

Unless something extreme happens, somebody caught heckling an undercover cop will probably just be removed from the game. I don't have a problem with ejecting obnoxious fans, but I do have a problem with deceiving them.