The Bavarian police store large amounts of data from football fans, which they consider to be potential violent criminals. The problem: it doesn’t take much to be included. Fan representatives and privacy advocates sharply criticize the approach.
The police in Bavaria maintains a previously little-known database with the personal details of football fans and is therefore criticized by data protectionists and fan representatives. The “kicker” reports about it. In response to a written request from the Green Parliamentarians Katharina Schulze and Max Deisenhofer, the magazine reports 1644 people in the database with the name “EASy Violence and Sport”. That is significantly more than in the nationwide “file for violent offenders sport”, in which around 500 people resident in the Free State are listed.
Deisenhofer criticized the establishment of the Database as “incomprehensible”, since the number of offenses and administrative offenses in Bavaria has been falling continuously for years.
Inclusion in the database takes place after “individual prognosis”
There is therefore also criticism of the low-threshold criteria for inclusion in the database. “The decision to save a person […] takes place not on the basis of a single relevant fact, but on the basis of a so-called individual prognosis “, it says according to the information of the” kicker “in the answer to the inquiry there is a risk of sticking stickers, “the kicker quoted criminal defense lawyer Marco Noli from Munich, who is a member of the Fananwälte AG.
The Bavarian State Ministry replied about the use of the file: “The” EASy GS “file is used to obtain personal information about interrelationships and connections between the members of violent scenes in connection with sporting events.” Organized soccer fans in particular have been fighting against blanket criminalization for years.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
