Europe's biggest joint police effort underway - by ROY KAMMERER
BERLIN (AP) - What is billed as the biggest joint operation in history between European police started Tuesday when 323 officers from 13 countries arrived in Berlin for the World Cup. The officers, whose ranks will be boosted by another 200 in the next few days, as well as plainclothes agents, will be sworn in as German police officers for the duration of the tournament, which starts Friday.
"We have never seen a European operation in this dimension," said Christian Sachs, spokesman for Germany's interior ministry, which is responsible for World Cup security. They will team up with a German officer, but have the power to arrest fans from their country or send them home.
"For us to give up that much sovereignty would have been unthinkable a decade ago," said Wolfgang Schaueble, Germany's interior minister. "It is an excellent symbol of the growing co-operation in the European Union and the power of football to bring things together."
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