High-definition screens display constant streams of data as British intelligence researchers work 24 hours a day in a vast security nerve center bigger than a football pitch.
Crack police teams from countries across Europe sit side by side at workstations in constant vigil to extinguish potentially deadly threats.
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But this is not Britain’s GCHQ listening post or a Pentagon war room – it is the center of the country’s biggest football security operation. history at Euro 2024 in Germany this summer.
300,000 fans from England and Scotland are expected to come from the UK for the month-long tournament, which starts on June 14.
German authorities admit that, like football hooligans, they are trying to combat unprecedented terrorist threats from IS and rogue factions spreading war in eastern Ukraine.
And rising tensions in the Middle East only heighten their security concerns.
Germany’s response was to bring together 300 of Europe’s top police brains to oversee the daunting security challenge from the purpose-built International Center for Police Cooperation in Neuss, western Germany.
And the man in charge of the British presence spoke for the first time last night about the vital role that will be played by three specialist officers leading the intelligence operation.
Former Met official Mick Johnson, director of the UK Football Policing Unit, told The Sun on Sunday: “I have no doubt it will be a well-run machine.
“We will have three work shifts. That’s one more than most nations because English fans tend to start early and finish late.
“They will work in three-day periods, starting the day before the games, on the day of the game and the day after.
“We have a team of plainclothes football operational officers – previously called observers – on site observing fans who will report to our IPCC-based team.
“If they detect someone causing problems, or identify someone who has been banned from the games, they will inform the IPCC team, who will pass the information on to the Germans, who will intervene to take whatever action they deem appropriate.
“There will be three or four games a day, so each hub will feed the IPCC central coordination center at the same time.
“It’s a good system. We have used it many times and I must say that the Germans are the best in the world at their organization.”
Security forces face the task of protecting 2.7 million fans, 24 team camps and ten stadiums where 51 games will be played between June 14th and July 14th.
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Police license was banned as a fan zone all over the country They are expected to attract 12 million visitors and have been identified as the most likely terrorist targets.
In an unprecedented move, Germany has invited 300 security experts from competing countries to its state-of-the-art headquarters in Neuss.
UK experts will work in shifts alongside officials from Germany, Europol and European football body UEFA, analyzing data from live CCTV broadcasts and from undercover observers mingling with fans.
The center of the operation is a 500-square-meter, hangar-like conference room equipped with 129 computers and a giant 40-square-meter screen.
Tournament director Philipp Lahm said: “From the beginning, safety has been our top priority.”
Oliver Strudthoff, director of the IPCC, said: “Every country knows its troublemakers better than anyone else and the foreign experts at Neuss will be able to identify them more quickly.
“The size of a delegation will depend on the number of fans and how potentially dangerous they are.
“England, for example, will have more representatives than Switzerland.”
Among the visitors to the headquarters was Herbert Reul, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The country’s Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, revealed in March that an Islamist attack in Moscow raised “the dangers to a new level”.
His chilling warning came just days after the ISIS-K terrorist atrocity at a Moscow concert hall killed 143 people.
Among the drastic steps taken to protect Three Lions fans will be a plan to temporarily close borders and increase border checks.
A steel ring will be cast around each team base, including the home of Gareth Southgate’s English stars, who will stay with their families at the five-star Weimarer Land Golf Resort and Spa in Blankenhain.
More than 1,600 well-known English players were banned from traveling to Germany during the tournament.
Between 800 and 1,300 police officers will be deployed around the stadiums at each match, guarding three separate security perimeters.
Cars will be checked in the first, bags searched in the second and tickets scanned in the third.
There are fears that fan zones are softer terrorist targets, as they host tens of thousands of people at each match.
The German Army will scan the skies around the games for drone strikes and provide data to the IPCC central command.
Johnson, whose central team will be led by his deputy Paul Foley, expects a minority of England fans to cause trouble but shares the hope that this will be kept to a minimum.
He said: “With England there will always be those who drink too much and engage in anti-social behaviour.
“They can sing songs they shouldn’t and are generally a pain in the ass.
“But in general they do not engage in premeditated violent outbursts and we have no major concerns about any of the teams we will play in the group stage.
“We hope it will be really enjoyable and enjoyable for everyone and we hope that the English fans are voted the best fans of the tournament.
“We have to win something.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
