The police, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) and the Judicial Institutions Service (DJI) have paid too little attention to the risks posed by Gökmen T., the man who committed an attack on a tram in Utrecht in March 2019. He shot four people there and injured several people.
This is the conclusion of the Justice and Security Inspectorate in a report that was presented earlier today to relatives of victims and survivors of the attack. The inspectorate states that the organizations have not sufficiently discussed and tackled the problem of T.
For example, all parties knew a different part of the problem of T., who had, among other things, been convicted for possession of firearms, was known as a criminal multiple offender and showed radical behavior in prison.
Radical and aggressive behavior
But the authorities only passed on their information to a limited extent, says the inspection, so that there was no complete picture. The municipality of Utrecht and the probation service, who were responsible for the return of T. after his prison sentence, were completely unaware of the problem.
For example, information about T.’s behavior was not or hardly shared. In an evaluation report of a prison in which T. was in jail in early January 2019, his behavior was labeled “quite extremist”. For example, a prisoner in his cell was not allowed to wear shorts or watch TV. T. was known as a ‘troublesome inmate’, but his behavior was not associated with radicalization.
In addition, T. headbutted a prison worker in February 2019, and more than two years earlier, he was labeled “a dangerous person” by a spiritual counselor, who said he felt “very threatened”. However, the information about T.’s behavior was not known to both the Public Prosecution Service and the court, as a result of which T. was released on conditions on 1 March 2019.
“Passing on the information might have made the picture of his many problems and how to approach them more complete,” the inspectorate said after studying other evaluations and its own research.
Risks can never be ruled out
The Inspectorate emphasizes that it cannot be said that if all information had been shared, an attack could have been prevented. “Risks can never be ruled out, but they must be made as small as possible. The police, the Public Prosecution Service and the DJI have not done that enough here,” the Inspectorate reports.
The inspectorate is also critical of the work of the authorities surrounding the attack. For example, organizations did not have a complete picture of the attack because they did not work well together and shared information with each other too late. There was also confusion among the police about the procedures to be followed. Moreover, the advice of the municipality of Utrecht to its residents to stay indoors was unclear. For example, cafes closed their doors, but guests ended up outside as a result.
The inspectorate says that the authorities have now improved their work, but that two years after the attack, everything is still not going well. For example, within the so-called Care and Safety House, in which the judiciary, care and administration work together, there should be more discussion about people who can pose a danger. The Inspectorate also believes that better communication between all parties should be done in the future.
‘Criminal law alone is not the solution’
Outgoing Minister of Justice Grapperhaus says in a statement that improvements have already been made since the tram attack. For example, there is more communication between the Public Prosecution Service and the Custodial Institutions Agency and procedures in crisis situations have been tightened or adjusted. The minister also promises that the approach to people like T. will be improved.
“It is important to (be able to) share crucial information with each other,” said the written statement. “A bill that is now in the Senate for consideration, will offer more possibilities for information sharing.”
The police also say they recognize the importance of sharing information. This must also be done with other organizations in, for example, healthcare.
“As a police force, we are increasingly dealing with people who commit criminal offenses, but who also need help or care,” says Head of Operations Van Renswoude of the Central Netherlands police in a written statement. “As in the case of Gökmen T., it is often about people who avoid healthcare as much as possible. Criminal law alone is not the solution for tackling this complex, multi-issue.”
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