Police Arrest 31 Fans at Rowdy Raiders Game : Football: Hundreds of officers and security guards try to prevent repeat of violence. Nonetheless, several fights still break out.

Forget the fanfare of the starting lineups. Forget the barkers hawking game programs. Forget those strident sellers of Silver-and-Black souvenirs.

For fans at Sunday’s Los Angeles Raiders-Chicago Bears football game, the loudest message came from the four black-and-white jail buses sitting ominously outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the army of police officers stationed inside the stadium.

The most telling announcement was the one that greeted fans as they entered the Coliseum, warning them that they were subject to searches for such contraband as alcohol, bottles, cans and coolers.

“The Coliseum and Raiders staff urge you to enjoy today’s game,” the 30-second tape boomed on the loudspeaker, “and remember, we’re all on the same team.”

Is that any way to sell a rivalry between the Monsters of the Midway and the rowdy Silver-and-Black clad Raiders--who both entered the game unbeaten, untied and unforgiving?

It is when your last home game was marred by a vicious beating that left one fan of the opposing team hospitalized and local officials vowing to crack down.

Paul Albrecht, 35, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who lives in Tucson, Ariz., was kicked in the head and beaten the previous Sunday at the Coliseum as he walked through a crowd of jeering Raiders fans. Albrecht remains in serious condition at County-USC Medical Center. The man accused of assaulting him--Shane Geringer, 19, of Agoura--is facing possible criminal charges of assault with a deadly weapon with great bodily injury .

That incident outraged local politicians and law enforcement officials and led to Sunday’s crackdown. By game’s end Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department reported 31 arrests for disturbing the peace and alcohol-related offenses.

About six of the arrests came during a fight that erupted on the concourse level at the peristyle end of the Coliseum midway through the fourth quarter, police said.

“We sent about a half-dozen officers into the upper stands near tunnels 1, 2 and 3 to quell it,” said LAPD Lt. Alan Kerstein, the officer in charge of the off-duty security detail. “Several people threw beer at officers.”

About half of the six are being held on suspicion of disorderly conduct and the others for investigation of battery on a police officer.

Some of the combatants required treatment for cuts and bruises, Kerstein said.

Police said 88 other boisterous fans were escorted from the game after being involved in arguments or minor scuffles.

With nearly 115 LAPD officers inside the Coliseum to supplement about 200 private security guards and more police outside the stadium, Moore said there was little chance of a repeat of last Sunday’s violence--the most serious single incident since the Raiders moved from Oakland in 1982.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said Sunday that he would ask the Coliseum Commission on Wednesday to consider some kind of ban on alcohol sales, this after witnessing the fourth-quarter skirmish between fans and police. “This was a crowd that was on its best behavior, and still the police could not control the crowd,” Yaroslavsky said. “If the police can’t defend themselves, then how can a fan?”

For some of the 80,000-plus fans who witnessed the Raiders 24-10 victory, the security crackdown was irksome--especially to those who savor their boisterous image as an extension of the Raiders’ on-the-field rowdiness.

“I think it’s an overreaction,” said one season ticket holder who asked not to be identified. “Why do you need all this police here hassling people? That beating was an isolated incident.”

Others said they welcomed the scores of uniformed police.

“If they start hitting each other, then take them to jail,” said Eddie Martinez of Pacoima. “But if they are just high-fiving each other and yelling--hey, then let them go.”

During pregame tailgate parties in a parking lot, Martinez and his friends were busy spray-painting Raiders slogans on a white convertible that had been decorated with the distinctive blue-and-orange markings of the Bears and a team pennant. In defense, its owner, Pat Perino, helped the cheering Raiders crowd repaint his car.

“The big reason I’m letting them do this to my car is because of the violence, and I want my car to be here when I get back,” said Perino, a Chicago native who lives in Huntington Beach. “To be honest, I’m just playing it safe right now.”

Perino was not alone in playing it safe. Vendors said sales of Bears souvenirs were extremely slow. One saleswoman outside the main Coliseum gate said police officers asked her not to sell Chicago pennants that could inflame Raiders fans.