Official warning over the World Cup: what happened in Britain is unprecedented!

Euro 2020 produced the highest figure for total incidents across England’s last five major tournaments, with 2,345 incidents and 599 arrests recorded.

Abroad, Roberts praised the England fans who travelled to the United States. He noted that “fan behaviour was excellent” despite the large numbers, and that the number of incidents was very low. Local police in the United States arrested only 22 England fans. That compares with no incidents recorded at Qatar 2022.

The offences recorded in the United States included: 8 offences relating to public order and unauthorised entry, 6 assaults causing injuries, 2 cases of ticket touting, 1 case of drunkenness, and 3 ejections.

Back home, Roberts voiced his concern about the forces’ ability to plan for potential offences in the United Kingdom, especially with licences being extended at short notice.

He pointed to England’s match against Mexico, which kicked off at 1am British time. Pubs won an extended licence until 5am, a decision taken just 48 hours before the match. That leaves no time to reschedule shifts or deploy additional officers, he said, calling for security suggestions to be taken into account in order to balance the benefits against potential threats.

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