After the first eight games, officials had arrested 45 people, with Tuesday’s game bringing the total to 51 overall for the tournament’s Dallas-Fort Worth stint.
According to Arlington police spokesman Tim Ciesco, the city hosted more than 631,000 fans at Dallas Stadium (AT&T Stadium) and thousands more throughout the city’s entertainment district.
“Overall, the fans that came through Arlington were great, they had fun, and they were easy to work with,” Ciesco said.
Ciesco expressed gratitude toward federal, state and local agencies that played a role in the World Cup’s public safety success, saying Arlington police “couldn’t have done this without them.”
Here’s a summary of the last D-FW game’s arrests and a recap of the previous ones.
Overall, criminal trespass and trademark counterfeiting arrests trumped all others in the roundup. So, how did Arlington police approach these?
The majority of criminal trespass arrests, according to Ciesco, were individuals caught trying to enter matches without valid tickets or credentials. He said they assigned officers to the plazas and the stadium perimeter with the specific goal of seeking anyone trying to sneak in.
Ciesco said stadium security was also helpful in alerting police if there were any entrance issues.
Similarly, officers were assigned to patrol the entertainment district on match days to look for vendors attempting to sell unlicensed merchandise to fans, Ciesco said.
FIFA and several brands that produce the official jerseys had representatives on site with expertise in detecting counterfeit merchandise. Ciesco said brand representatives are able to inspect the jerseys and let police know whether they’re legitimate or not.
It’s a crime to sell counterfeit trademarked merchandise, Ciesco said, and additionally, police wanted to ensure fans didn’t get scammed by purchasing items that turned out to be fake or of lesser quality.