From June 14 to July 14, the UEFA EURO 2024 took place at a total of ten venues in Germany. 31 days full of soccer, emotion and hundreds of thousands of fans in the respective cities across Germany. Twenty matches alone took place in four stadiums in North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund was also one of the venues. A total of six soccer matches: four preliminary round matches, one round of 16 and one semi-final of the 17th European Championship were kicked off at the BVB Dortmund stadium.

The Dortmund police are now taking stock:

"We prepared very long and very intensively for this European Championship in Dortmund. For me and the head of operations, the command staff, the task force, the criminal investigation department, the state security, the riot police, the uniformed and civilian task forces, our goals were particularly important:

The many hundreds of thousands of visitors should feel safe in Dortmund - despite the tense global security situation. And the out-of-town guests should encounter a cosmopolitan, approachable and professional police force in Dortmund. My conclusion: our numerous emergency services succeeded in doing this in an impressive manner. My heartfelt thanks to all of them. But it was also a tour de force that demanded a great deal of human resources. We were forced to set clear priorities," said Chief Constable Gregor Lange, drawing a positive conclusion.

"We developed and coordinated a comprehensive operational and security concept with our network partners in the run-up to the event. All in all, we can say that our concept worked," continued the police chief.

Almost four weeks have flown by. For the Dortmund police, however, these 31 days were just the culmination of years of preparation for this tournament. This is also confirmed by Gregor Lange: "My thanks go above all to all the deployed forces, who have been on duty almost every day since June 14 and have put service above their own private lives. The planning, organization and coordination of such a far-reaching event requires years of preparatory work to ensure that everything runs smoothly right from the kick-off of the first match. True to the motto 'Ready when you need us', we showed at all levels that we were there for the people in our city and their safety."

"Over 700,000 people have visited Dortmund in the last four weeks. This means that far more than twice as many people came to Dortmund as live in Gelsenkirchen. When so many people come together, the question of security automatically arises. Particularly in view of the war in Ukraine and the hostilities in the GAZA strip, we as the police were prepared for many scenarios and also for a high abstract terror threat. Good cooperation with all those responsible for such an event is therefore the key to coping with such a security situation," continued Police President Gregor Lange.

During this operation, Dortmund police received support from forces from all over North Rhine-Westphalia. But there was even more support. As part of international cooperation, it is now a tradition that a total of 59 police officers from Albania, France, Georgia, Italy, Poland and Turkey also took part in this operation and contributed to a successful police deployment and security concept.

The statistics also show that the UEFA EURO 2024 in Dortmund was virtually incident-free, but in any case safe. At a total of 36 public viewing events, six match days, three car parades and a large number of fan walks, there were a total of 255 criminal offenses. The burning of pyrotechnics accounted for the majority of these. 116 violations of the Explosives Act were recorded here. In addition, there were 46 assault offenses and 29 trespassing offenses. During the entire period, the Dortmund police took 996 police measures in accordance with the Police Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to UEFA EURO 2024. 95 of these involved a deprivation of liberty.

Four incidents were of particular public interest:

At the first match in Dortmund, 50 so-called "high-risk fans" from Italy sought a confrontation with Albanian soccer supporters in Potgasse in Dortmund city centre. This clash was prevented in advance thanks to the swift and consistent intervention of the police.

A physical altercation between Turkish and Georgian fans broke out in the stands shortly before the start of the second match at the BVB Dortmund stadium. Here too, stewards and police prevented worse.

The climber on the stadium roof, the so-called "roofer", at the match between Germany and Denmark certainly deserves a special mention. He kept the security officers very busy.

In the end, the 21-year-old from Osnabrück was brought down from the roof safely. He posed no danger, as he had credibly explained that he only wanted to take spectacular photos. The Dortmund police initiated criminal proceedings for trespassing and are currently investigating whether the Osnabrück man will have to pay the costs of this operation.

Before the Netherlands' match against England, there was an altercation between supporters of both national teams on Kleppingstraße. People also threw objects, including bottles and chairs.

The police also intervened forcefully here. The investigation is still ongoing.

With over 700,000 people in Dortmund just to watch soccer, this is actually a very small proportion.

But above all, the last match day in Dortmund will remain a special memory for the police. There were over 160,000 visitors here in the city. There was a fan walk in which over 100,000 Dutch people took part. The media called it the "biggest fan walk ever!"

"These moments show that the vast majority of visitors came to Dortmund to peacefully support their teams and celebrate a colorful and atmospheric soccer festival. We have shown the small proportion who came to Dortmund to commit crimes that we will not tolerate such things here. By consistently intervening, for example during the match between Italy and Albania, we have shown that we will not tolerate such things here in Dortmund," said Police President Gregor Lange, praising the peaceful fans.

With the "Fairplay + Respect" campaign launched in the run-up to the European Championships, Dortmund police promoted respectful and fair treatment of one another. With always approachable and specially trained officers, the communication teams, the Dortmund police actively approached international soccer supporters throughout the entire duration of the event and were thus approachable and in contact with them for the entire duration of the event.

The Dortmund police would like to thank the many hundreds of thousands of people who came to Dortmund and draw the following conclusion for themselves:

The vast majority of visitors who came to Dortmund were part of a cosmopolitan, cheerful and peaceful event.