We all laugh at doomsaday preppers, until a zombie apocalypse happens. Then they are the ones laughing at us. In the absence of The Walking Dead coming to life, we have actual dangers posed to people that law enforcement and national security are tasked with neutralizing and preventing. As someone who is aiming for a career in law enforcement, I often see world events and after understanding the context of an event I look at the ways in which law enforcement/national security prepared and/or reacted to the incident. Unless it is FIFA corruption, I hardly expect to see law enforcement and an opportunity to study their reaction when I’m watching soccer. On the final day of the Bundesliga (German top division) season yesterday, May 12, 2018, I was able to witness law enforcement in action in the game between Hamburg SV and Borussia Monchengladbach.

For the first time ever, since the league’s inception in 1963, Hamburg SV have been relegated. Relegation occurs when a team has a poor enough record in the league to finish in the final 3 or 4 places of the league and are cast down to the second division for the next season, where they have an opportunity to do well and get promoted once again. It is a big deal to be relegated. The loss of stature is one thing, but the loss of millions of dollars from television revenue, ticket revenue, and prize money can make or break a club. Hamburg SV have been flirting with relegation for the past few years, much to the frustration of their fans. Now that relegation was made official, a few fans decided to voice their frustrations by throwing flares onto the field.

That’s dangerous. Any projectiles onto the field are dangerous but a flare adds another layer of danger with the potential for burns and smoke not exactly being great for your lungs. However, as many keyboard warriors pointed out, flares aren’t that dangerous. You’re far more likely to be hurt when setting off fireworks blackout drunk every Wednesday night (don’t judge me) on certain holidays. Once the game was stopped and the fans settled down, the police were on the field, in position to intercept and put down a riot, in this instance a ‘pitch invasion.’

There seemed to be no signs of a pitch invasion happening. Which is why the keyboard warriors who saw all the attention and hype this incident got claimed that the police were overreacting. German police overreacting? Those comments are saved for articles such as “Germany Raids Homes of 36 People Accused of Hateful Postings Over Social Media.” Those comments should not be for when a soccer game is stopped for a few minutes and a riot is prevented. The people claiming overreaction are angry that their precious soccer was stopped for a few minutes in the name of safety and security. I’m someone who loves soccer. I’m also someone who often repeats Benjamin Franklin’s quote:

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

I can understand an initial anger at the sanctity of a soccer game being disrupted by police in riot gear. But do you feel the same when an owner of a Greek team comes out on the field, barking at the ref while carrying a gun (yeah that happened)? Or when a referee in Ethiopia is attacked by coaches and players for making a decision they didn’t agree with? What about a situation that mirrors this one, a pitch invasion in Egypt in 2012 that began when flares and fireworks were thrown on the pitch?

74 people died and more than 500 were injured. Law enforcement was ordered to stand down and locked the gates not allowing the outnumbered fans to escape. This was accused to have been because of counter revolutionaries within Egypt’s ruling government at the time, so yes there is more to this exact incident than simply flares and a pitch invasion. But unlike this pitch invasion in Port Said, Egypt, the incident in Hamburg, Germany was handled properly by law enforcement. The scenes that occurred in this disturbing video were prevented from having an inkling of happening again at the Hamburg SV game.

The lack of a pitch invasion was because police and security were poised and prepared. For some, preparation is an overreaction. And they are right at times, there is no use bringing a tank to defeat a kitten. When it comes to this scenario, the enemy is as clear as day: rioting fans with flares and possibly other weapons, endangering thousands of bystanders, endangering players and officials (truly a stain on the sanctity of the game if that happens), and an overall situation that can get out of control and descend into chaos if not put down immediately.

I worry, because the police standing ready to put down a riot and ‘interrupting’ a soccer match for a short, overall insignificant amount of time is now considered a “overreaction.” Can the police just do their jobs? Is this a show of the degradation of respect for police and national security and the work they do? I would be considered a bootlicker if I agreed with every police and national security action and tactic. I still got a little Libertarian in me to say that is not the case. But here I am, writing over 900 words to defend the most simple police action, which can be considered an inaction because literally nothing happened. They just stood there. Imagine when we get into the muddy waters of talking about whether a police shooting or use of force is excessive or justified. I can’t imagine the plane for debate is healthy if we can’t let the police stand on some grass in Hamburg for a few minutes without crying “police state!”