PST wants health services to be able to share more information with the police because many extremists have mental disorders. The Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) is evaluating the duty of confidentiality.
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PST released a new report on extremism and mental disorders on Friday.
There they claim that mental disorders constitute a vulnerability factor for people who are in a process of radicalization. Many extremists have mental disorders. Over time, these disorders can reinforce negative development in a radicalization course.
– This is an important knowledge for us as a security service to prevent terrorism, said PST assistant manager Hedvig Moe at the press conference.
PST believes it is important that health services have a better opportunity to share information with PST and the police in order to prevent serious crime.
In collaborating with health services, PST learns that the ability of health services to disclose information is often hampered by the duty of confidentiality, it is stated in the report.
It will examine the confidentiality
The Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) was also present during the presentation.
He said the most important thing in the report was measures to improve the flow of information between the PST, police and health care system.
– The Norwegian Police Directorate has been tasked with revising the circulars on cooperation between the services and the Norwegian Directorate of Health. This will also include the right and duty to share information, Mehl says.
The Ministry of Justice must also assess, together with the Ministry of Health and Assistance, whether there is a need to change the rules on confidentiality.
– We need to understand why people commit serious acts that cause harm or take action. This is an important relationship in that photo, Mehl says.
Increase in psychiatry appointments
Part of the report’s background consists of two specific incidents from last year: The Kongsberg Murders And the knife attack on Bislett.
On October 13, 2021, Espen Andersen Bråten killed five people with a knife and shot others with a bow and arrow in Kongsberg. He was sentenced to compulsory mental health care and considered insane.
On 9 November of the same year, a mentally ill man was shot and killed by police in Bislett in Oslo after the man threatened with a knife.
Police reported last year about a sharp increase in the number of psychiatric posts from 2016 to 2020.
PST evaluation after the Kongsberg murders it also concluded that more information from the health system can provide better preventative measures.
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