Periscope Project: Early Detection System for ‘Persons with Risk Potential’

Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – After the amok drives in Münster, Volkmarsen and Trier, the investigators were presented with a depressing picture: the perpetrators had all been conspicuous before their amok attacks. They made suggestions, attracted attention during routine checks or bombarded the authorities with letters as “prolific writers”. They had sent warning signals, but these had not been interpreted as such. Detecting such “ticking time bombs” in good time has been the goal of a project called “Periscope” in North Rhine-Westphalia for a year now.

The early detection system introduced under this name after several rampages is the abbreviation for “persons with risk potential” and has led to the screening of a good 2,520 people within a year. This was communicated by the NRW Ministry of the Interior at the request of the German Press Agency. Early detection was introduced nationwide in May 2022 after a pilot phase.

“We are increasingly turning our attention to mentally disturbed people who could pose a risk, detached from a well-established political or religious ideology,” said NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) of the German Press Agency.

The procedure is reminiscent of that of juvenile intensive offenders: the police work together with local network partners such as job centers and social psychiatric services in case conferences and at round tables.

The aim is to stabilize people who are prone to violent crimes. Only those who have already appeared to be violent will be tested. This has so far been the case 2522 times.

There are two stages in the test cases. Only about every fifth case ends up in the second processing stage, namely whenever a risk cannot be ruled out. Police officers trained in risk analysis then work out individual measures, sometimes with the help of psychologists.

The police themselves only give impetus when it comes to medical, social, psychological or other care. However, it can put people at risk in contact with debt counseling or a psychiatric facility.

The police give two exemplary examples: In one case, a man found himself in an almost hopeless situation and had already caused several police operations through violent behavior.

He suffered from a severe form of schizophrenia and showed a clear risk potential. In his case, it was possible to place him in a specialist clinic and then, when he got better, in an assisted living facility.

In another case, a violent man who made specific threats was also sent to a psychiatric facility. It was found there that he had stopped taking the medication that had been prescribed for him. The man was stabilized and released into his living environment.

The fact that periscopes are not a panacea was shown a few weeks ago by the explosion in a high-rise building in Ratingen, which injured 35 people: The alleged perpetrator had previously attracted attention through violence, but only through minor offenses such as slaps in the face, which are far too common to trigger an alarm. In addition, his psychological abnormalities were not recorded in time. Thus, he was not a case for periscope, as the investigators explained.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:230608-99-982071/3