A 22-year-old Danish man suspected of the death of three people was ordered to pretrial detention in a psychiatric ward. He is said to have tried to contact the emergency hotline before the death job.
Denmark was rocked to the core by Sunday’s shooting at a popular shopping mall in Copenhagen.
Death work has sparked a reflection on the treatment of those suffering from mental health problems.
According to the police, the man was a client of mental health services and received help through the so-called SSP system. It is intended to prevent violence through the cooperation of schools, social and health services and the police.
There are not enough psychiatric beds
It is not certain that errors in psychiatric care contributed to the Sunday deaths, but psychiatry has been under pressure in Denmark for a long time, experts say.
– Psychiatry is simply on its knees. This increases the risk that the person asking for help will not get it, says Videbeck.
Former president of the Danish Psychiatric Association Gitte Ahle on the other hand, says that it is necessary to investigate in more detail how mentally ill people who committed crimes were treated before the crimes.
Ahle emphasizes that he does not take a direct stand on the deaths of the Field’s shopping center. The police have not yet assessed what the 22-year-old suspect’s motive was.
Experts: mental health care has been under pressure for a long time
Gitte Ahle has been involved in the investigation, which investigated 218 crimes committed by the mentally ill since 2016. According to the researchers, 11 of the 13 murders and attempted murders could have been prevented if the perpetrator had received appropriate treatment.
Professor Poul Videbech also says that an accident investigation commission should be established for crimes related to mental health problems. There are such, for example, for plane accidents.
– A thorough investigation of what happened must be done, for the sake of the victims, their relatives and all of us, so that we can learn our lessons, Videbech says.