Not a single situation that would require interference of the International Police Cooperation Centre arose in Ukraine during the Euro. But should any threat arise, it will be promptly localized, a German Federal Police officer, Marco Schlicht, has said at the press conference “International cooperation in organization of Euro and border security”. The media event with participation or representatives of Euro participant countries’ law-enforcement entities was held on 21 June at the Ukraine-2012 press centre.
“Policemen from different countries accompanying their fans to Euro-2012 interact perfectly among themselves, and this is probably the reason why we have not had a single problem situation,” the German law-enforcer emphasized.
In his turn, Portuguese police commissioner Rodrigo Cavaleiro believes that a great share of the credit for a peaceful Euro belongs to the International Police Cooperation Centre organized in Ukraine. “It is much easier for us to keep in touch with our colleagues in the field, stadium and fan zone, and it is easier to maintain communication with fans from our countries this way. Working with our Ukrainian counterparts in the Centre, we were able to clarify the regulations that should be observed by our fans. If misunderstanding arose from any side, we were always ready for a prompt reaction. The same way, we also provide information assistance to Ukrainian law-enforcers with regard to fans from our countries,” Cavaleiro noted.
Foreign fans and policemen accompanying them have a lot of positive impressions from the tournament, a detective from the Polish Criminal Police Department, Tomasz Orlowski, believes. “We were well aware of what should be expected from our Ukrainian counterparts with regard to interaction, and we are much satisfied with this. I hope the same kind of work will go on till the end of the tournament, even if the host countries have finished playing at the Euro,” Orlowski said.
Besides this, the deputy director of the UK Football Policing Unit, Anthony Conniford, also spoke about the efficiency of the Euro police centre operation. He emphasized that a peaceful championship could hardly have been organized without close cooperation. “There will be no successful work of policemen without cooperation. We wish to get involved at early stages, the way it used to be in Ukraine and Poland, in order to secure obtaining of operational information in full scope,” Mr Conniford summed up.
