At this historic conference on January 30th, 2019 at the V. BPA (V. Department of the Riot Police) in Königsbrunn / Bavaria, the USPE Secretary General Andreas Röhner and the Chairman of the DPSK, Ralf Flohr, both of them new to the office since 2019, met the Vice President of the European Judo Union (EJU), Jane Bridge. This continental exchange “Police and Judo” was also attended by Karl-Heinz Hofmann, manager of DPSK, and Stefanie Radenovic from the USPE office, as well as by DPSK Coordinator for Judo, Johannes Daxbacher who was in charge of organizing.

Markus Ferber, member of the European Parliament, who unfortunately was unable to attend but sent a letter saying that he considers “Judo apart from its physical and athletic benefits, especially in the technical field, a great gain for the police being more and more confronted with aggressive citizens and increasing violence”. For him, the values of Judo, such as respect and mutual appreciation, are an important factor besides the techniques of Judo.

Appreciating this special occasion, the first mayor of Königsbrunn, Franz Feigl, invited the delegation to sign the golden book of his city.

Jane Bridge, Judo World Champion of 1980, was delighted by the experience made at the very first Mixed Team World Championships for Police Judo, which took place at the DPM Judo 2018 for the first time. Here, the DPSK is the pioneer and could report the good experience to the USPE first hand; they also introduced this challenging team combat for the coming European Police Championships.

Finally, DPSK Coordinator Johannes Daxbacher summarized his long-time international experience concerning the topic of the conference. “We as German police officers are highly regarded all over the world. Judo is not only an Olympic sport but also a great way of conflict management for police officers.”

Am 24. Januar fand in der Vertretung des Freistaats Thüringen beim Bund in Berlin die offizielle Übergabe des Generalsekretariats der USPE von Berlin nach Meiningen in Thüringen statt. Unter Anwesenheit von Herrn Ministerialdirigenten Michael Schulze (Thüringen), Herrn Senatsdirigenten Klaus Zuch (Berlin) und des Präsidenten der USPE, Luc Smeyers, übergab Fred Kusserow an Andreas Röhner den Staffelstab. Mit seinem Team Stefanie Radenovic und Wolfram Müller wird nunmehr der europäische Polizeisport in Thüringen administriert.