Any football fan knows that sometimes the police aren’t so particular about their investigations. Because she is of course subject to the law, something like this shouldn’t actually happen. The nightmare becomes all the worse when the investigation is sloppy and the wrong person takes action. When I talk about such things in a relaxed atmosphere over a beer, I get incredulous looks at best, and unqualified comments at worst. There can’t be such a thing with “our” police. But there is. And that’s what a fan of SC Preußen Münster had to experience too: He had to endure a house search and the confiscation of his mobile phone, even though he was as innocent as one can be.
In December 2021, the district derby between Bochum and BVB took place. And with it a so-called third-place dispute between fans far away from the stadium. Team Blau also determined numbers with names via a radio cell query. One name seemed familiar to the officials who were familiar with the scene, and it was concluded with razor sharp precision that it must be someone from the Munster fan scene. The fact that the person concerned had neither the gender of the contract owner nor anything to do with the company that had the contract for the phone was ignored. He also had no family members of the same name. Only the last name matched. Then nothing.
All of this could have been determined with precise work. For example, one could have come up with the idea of questioning the connection owner as a witness. Instead, there was the whole program for the fan. Even destroying the phone to obtain information was considered. In the end, the measures taken against the fan were declared illegal by a court.
That’s a success. But how sloppy and careless do you have to be as a police force for this to happen? The reason for this may also be that the officials do not have to answer for such things. But the public prosecutor and judge who applied for or signed the search warrant should have taken a closer look.
It remains important that fans – also with the support of fan aid – defend themselves against such measures. Nothing can be accepted without complaint. Because we are only strong together.
»Sport free!« from the fan advocate.
