Violent offenses - Majority of police operations in amateur soccer in NRW
The majority of police operations in amateur soccer last season took place in North Rhine-Westphalia. This was reported by NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) at the Interior Ministers' Conference in Berlin on Friday.
According to this report, which is available to the German Press Agency, there were 255 incidents in NRW in the 2022/2023 season. In the process, 242 reports were written - most of them for assault offenses (177). Threats (23) and insults (23) were also reported more frequently. The police identified 371 suspects and counted 326 victims - including 248 injured.
"According to evaluations by the reporting police authorities, the majority of the injured parties/victims were players (67%), referees (13%) and spectators (13%)," said the Reul report. Seven police officers were also injured.
These figures put NRW well ahead of Bavaria, which ranks second in the statistics. There were only 54 deployments in Bavaria. In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, there were only 13, in Brandenburg five.
Nationwide, there were 542 deployments. Compared to around 1.5 million games, this was only a small proportion of 0.036 percent, according to Reul. While the police data for the top four leagues has been collected for years, the statistics for amateur matches were available for the first time. The result was manageable, said Reul: "All states report unanimously that the phenomenon of "violence in amateur soccer" is the subject of media coverage, but is of secondary importance in police operations and is not comparable with the incidents in the four highest German leagues."
As in NRW, almost all cases nationwide involved violent offenses (495 times). The police counted a total of 1099 suspects and 754 victims. 714 of them were injured - including 498 players, 116 spectators, 83 referees and 17 police officers.
"Headbutts and kung fu don't belong on the pitch any more than riots and pyro on the stands. Fair play applies on and off the pitch," Reul told dpa. Nevertheless, the issue is too small for the conference of interior ministers - data collection is to be discontinued.
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- The Interior Ministers' Conference in Berlin was attended by Herbert Reul, the Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), who highlighted the high incidence of police operations related to amateur soccer in his state.
- Reul's report stated that the majority of violent offenses in amateur soccer last season occurred in NRW, with 255 incidents and 242 reports written, most of which were for assault offenses.
- The police operation in NRW resulted in the identification of 371 suspects and the counting of 326 victims, with 248 of them being injured players.
- Despite the high number of incidents, Reul acknowledged that the phenomenon of violence in amateur soccer is of secondary importance compared to incidents in the four highest German leagues.
- The German Government, through the Interior Ministers' Conference, decided to discontinue the collection of data on violence in amateur soccer.
- Reul, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), stressed the importance of fair play in soccer, stating that headbutts and kung fu should not be tolerated on the pitch.
- In a separate report, a traffic lawyer warned against talking to the police during traffic stops, citing potential self-incrimination.
- The city of Düsseldorf, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, has been in the news for violent crime, with one incident resulting in a clan member being punished by the German authorities.
Source: www.stern.de
