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Police State Soccer CTV.ca News Staff \|\| June 09, 2006 Three English soccer hooligans managed to sneak into Germany just days before the World Cup is set to begin, despite efforts to bar their entry. Security officials spotted the group and are monitoring their movements, Michael Waldheckler of the ZIS police agency told The Associated Press. "They came to our attention," he said. "They have been sufficiently checked out and we will continue to look into it." About 3,500 English hooligans were told to give up their passports, but 180 have failed to do so. Meanwhile, more than 320 officers from 13 countries have arrived in Berlin for the World Cup, for what is being billed as the largest joint operation in history between European police. The authorities, whose ranks will be bolstered by another 200 in the coming days as well as plainclothes agents, will be sworn in as German police officers for the duration of the 2006 FIFA World Cup football tournament that begins on Friday. They will patrol jointly with their German colleagues but have the power to arrest fans from their country or send them home. The security effort, which will be co-ordinated through the high-technology National Information and Co-ordination office, is being described as an unprecedented co-operative effort. "For us to give up that much sovereignty would have been unthinkable a decade ago," Wolfgang Schaueble, Germany's interior minister told AP. "It is an excellent symbol of the growing co-operation in the European Union and the power of football to bring things together." Officers will be dispatched to airports, train stations and waterways, to work with states that have a World Cup stadium. The will also work in Cologne inside ZIS, Germany's central office for controlling hooligans. Authorities from various nations are also deploying plainclothes officers who are experts on hooliganism and can pick potential troublemakers out of the crowd. The spotters' presence and ability to identify fans for prosecution back home was thought to be the main reason why the 2004 European Championship in Portugal went off without a major incident. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com Germany is also tightening border controls, which have become less stringent since the formation of the European Union. Security officials will be monitoring the games with dozens of computers, large monitoring screens, and high-tech equipment that are wired into virtually every public area of the sports arenas. "It's a massive undertaking. We've worked very closely in the past with Olympics in Athens and Torino and we will be working in Beijing. The security effort in place here is comparable to an event of that scale without question, and appropriately so," said Robert Sikellis, managing director and associate general counsel at Vance, an American-based investigation and security consulting firm. It's not known what amount of FIFA's overall budget has been allotted to security. However, $1.4 billion US was spent on security for the Turin Olympics. "It's a very high profile event with many symbolic and financial targets. It's the kind of event that has law enforcement security officials on edge and you can't leave anything to chance," Sikellis said, appearing on CTV's Canada AM. As security officers descend on Berlin for what is billed as the most watched sporting event in the world, he warns the main threat does not lie with foreign terrorists. "The real security issue here, I am convinced, is not going to be foreign terrorists ... I don't think they have the operational capabilities to do anything there.... Historically they tend toward the softer targets," Sikellis told AM. "I think the real problem is hooliganism and right-wing extremists, frankly. That's what I think the German government is focused on." Wolf Dombrowsky, head of the disaster research unit at the University of Kiel in Germany, agreed. "There is a real strong right-wing scene in Germany that is forging links with rightists in Eastern Europe," he told the Boston Globe. "These people are very prone to violence." Germany is considered an easy destination for troublemakers to reach because of its central location (it borders with nine countries), and the fact there are cheap flights within Europe. Britain has sent the largest contingent, with some 82 uniformed officers and more than a dozen plainclothes spotters. The head of the England's police delegation told AP that their hooligans were once the most notorious in Europe, but new security measures have curbed such violence. "You want to judge them on their behavior now and not their reputation," Roger Evans said. "They may drink a little too much and get loud, but they are there to have fun." Poland also has a deployed a large group of officers amid concerns that their native hooligans pose a threat, fueled by some Polish fans making headlines with their promises to cross the border armed with pick-axes and knives to attack Germans and English. But Polish, Dutch and English officers said they have no information yet of hooligans moving into Germany with the opening match only days away. Sikellis warns that though British authorities are taking steps to ban hooligans from entering Germany, some of the more violent groups come from countries where governments don't have the same capacities for intelligence gathering. "So you're going to have a lot of people sneaking over the borders, a lot of wide open areas where the games are going to be viewed publicly, a lot of drinking going on," he said. "It's a recipe for problems," he said. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
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Police State Soccer

CTV.ca News Staff || June 09, 2006

Three English soccer hooligans managed to sneak into Germany just days before the World Cup is set to begin, despite efforts to bar their entry.

Security officials spotted the group and are monitoring their movements, Michael Waldheckler of the ZIS police agency told The Associated Press.

"They came to our attention," he said. "They have been sufficiently checked out and we will continue to look into it."

About 3,500 English hooligans were told to give up their passports, but 180 have failed to do so.

Meanwhile, more than 320 officers from 13 countries have arrived in Berlin for the World Cup, for what is being billed as the largest joint operation in history between European police.

The authorities, whose ranks will be bolstered by another 200 in the coming days as well as plainclothes agents, will be sworn in as German police officers for the duration of the 2006 FIFA World Cup football tournament that begins on Friday.

They will patrol jointly with their German colleagues but have the power to arrest fans from their country or send them home.

The security effort, which will be co-ordinated through the high-technology National Information and Co-ordination office, is being described as an unprecedented co-operative effort.

"For us to give up that much sovereignty would have been unthinkable a decade ago," Wolfgang Schaueble, Germany's interior minister told AP.

"It is an excellent symbol of the growing co-operation in the European Union and the power of football to bring things together."

Officers will be dispatched to airports, train stations and waterways, to work with states that have a World Cup stadium. The will also work in Cologne inside ZIS, Germany's central office for controlling hooligans.

Authorities from various nations are also deploying plainclothes officers who are experts on hooliganism and can pick potential troublemakers out of the crowd.

The spotters' presence and ability to identify fans for prosecution back home was thought to be the main reason why the 2004 European Championship in Portugal went off without a major incident.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

Germany is also tightening border controls, which have become less stringent since the formation of the European Union.

Security officials will be monitoring the games with dozens of computers, large monitoring screens, and high-tech equipment that are wired into virtually every public area of the sports arenas.

"It's a massive undertaking. We've worked very closely in the past with Olympics in Athens and Torino and we will be working in Beijing. The security effort in place here is comparable to an event of that scale without question, and appropriately so," said Robert Sikellis, managing director and associate general counsel at Vance, an American-based investigation and security consulting firm.

It's not known what amount of FIFA's overall budget has been allotted to security. However, $1.4 billion US was spent on security for the Turin Olympics.

"It's a very high profile event with many symbolic and financial targets. It's the kind of event that has law enforcement security officials on edge and you can't leave anything to chance," Sikellis said, appearing on CTV's Canada AM.

As security officers descend on Berlin for what is billed as the most watched sporting event in the world, he warns the main threat does not lie with foreign terrorists.

"The real security issue here, I am convinced, is not going to be foreign terrorists ... I don't think they have the operational capabilities to do anything there.... Historically they tend toward the softer targets," Sikellis told AM.

"I think the real problem is hooliganism and right-wing extremists, frankly. That's what I think the German government is focused on."

Wolf Dombrowsky, head of the disaster research unit at the University of Kiel in Germany, agreed.

"There is a real strong right-wing scene in Germany that is forging links with rightists in Eastern Europe," he told the Boston Globe. "These people are very prone to violence."

Germany is considered an easy destination for troublemakers to reach because of its central location (it borders with nine countries), and the fact there are cheap flights within Europe.

Britain has sent the largest contingent, with some 82 uniformed officers and more than a dozen plainclothes spotters.

The head of the England's police delegation told AP that their hooligans were once the most notorious in Europe, but new security measures have curbed such violence.

"You want to judge them on their behavior now and not their reputation," Roger Evans said. "They may drink a little too much and get loud, but they are there to have fun."

Poland also has a deployed a large group of officers amid concerns that their native hooligans pose a threat, fueled by some Polish fans making headlines with their promises to cross the border armed with pick-axes and knives to attack Germans and English.

But Polish, Dutch and English officers said they have no information yet of hooligans moving into Germany with the opening match only days away.

Sikellis warns that though British authorities are taking steps to ban hooligans from entering Germany, some of the more violent groups come from countries where governments don't have the same capacities for intelligence gathering.

"So you're going to have a lot of people sneaking over the borders, a lot of wide open areas where the games are going to be viewed publicly, a lot of drinking going on," he said. "It's a recipe for problems," he said.