Undoubtedly you’re familiar with Murphy’s Law: “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong”. This is a given of life but there are certain aspects we expect to go right no matter what and one of them, surely, is our security measures of an institution meant for the Rehabilitation of the Criminally Insane. Certainly after they just had ‘an incident’ with a deadly outcome, one that kept the entire country busy – the disappearance and murder of Anne Faber.
Den Dolder: Likely Patient Harasses Woman, Local Man Intervenes.
Just last Thursday the same “Den Dolder” Forensic Psychiatric Clinic, where Anne was likely attacked and murdered, suffered from a similar incident, just without violent escalation. A woman, who happened to be a passer-by, found herself suddenly harassed by what appears to be one of the clinic’s “inhabitants” roughly at the same ward where Michael P., Anne’s murderer, also resided.
Another local passer-by, who happened to rent a place on the same grounds as the clinic, intervened stopping the man from further harassing the woman. After the incident the woman contacted the “Den Dolder Interest Group” (Belangenvereniging Den Dolder) with her story. The interest group has been fighting for years to get the clinic to close, the group also believes that Anne’s dramatic attack is not simply an incident but the end-result of persistent problems.
Security Measures Up – But is it Enough?
The latest incident is further heating up the debate and discomfort among the Dutch, and especially the locals, about this clinic in particular but also such programs and the logistics behind it in nationwide Current Minister of Justice, Stef Blok, has already opened an inquiry into the Den Dolder Clinic as serious questions have risen about the freedom of movement and living situation of Michael P. and the facility he inhabited.
The latest incident has prompted police to ramp up patrols of the area and the clinic has instituted 24/7 security measures which, surprisingly, they did not have. The same institute is known locally for drug problems – as many drug dealers have found willing customers in patients. The clinic’s relatively secluded location in a forested area also doesn’t necessarily make things safer.
What actions do you think should be taken?
