So much for “Safe Finland”
Tags: Uncategorized — Author: Hank W. 
@ 9:46 pm
@ 9:46 pm The other day a Dutch pensioner on his honeymoon chose a very bad time to go to the Citymarket in Porvoo. Out came a shirtless man wielding a kitchen knife who stabbed him dead, just as a random gesture in front of his wife. The police who had been called on the scene as the man had been causing a racket in the Citymarket had to shoot him with rubber bullets before he would let go of the knife. The killer of the random tourist was also randomly in Porvoo, he was a drifter with no permanent residence, “known to the police” for petty theft and such but had arrived the very day from Helsinki on a bus.
Of course, the assailant was drunk.
My condolences to the family of the unfortunate Dutch tourist.
Hank, that’s very sad
My condolences, too.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Jun 21st, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
My condolences too. I was shocked when I heard about this. It’s my hometown and I can imagine it must have been very traumatic event, as outside Citymarket there are two ice cream sellers and always some strawberry/peas etc stalls and a lot of shoppers. At 16.00 it would be full of people. So, there must be a lot of witnesses.
I read in Hufvudstadsbladet that one witness telephoned to the police station in Porvoo/Borgå directly to ask for the police to come and that the person answering the phone told her to dial 112 instead!
Comment by JG — Thu, Jun 21st, 2007 @ 10:56 pm
so i herd u like generalising based on 1 thing and mudkips
Comment by murderer — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 12:48 am
Here’s a freebie for the Finland-bashers:
In the comments section for the article on the HS website, the very first comment demands more restrictions on selling beer in the summertime. The 25-year old perpetrator was a repeat offender with a long criminal record consisting of violent and property crime. Someone you might want to keep in jail, one thinks.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 2:02 am
sounds like you all need a 3 strikes and your out law. Send them to jail for life law.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 2:40 am
sounds like you all need a 3 strikes and your out law. Send them to jail for life law.
Nobody needs braindead laws like that. Giving actual sentences that will actually be served for serious crimes will do just fine.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 3:16 am
“Giving actual sentences that will actually be served for serious crimes will do just fine.”
yea, right, and your version sure worked here. Again another liberal failure.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 4:59 am
“Liberal” failure… you obviously have no idea how things work here.
Comment by sensor — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 11:37 am
Sensor its not like he cares. He just dosent listen and bangs hes head to the wall over and over agen. Go tease swedes winter they might not be as far as we on the evil goverment tax payed ”lets brain wash the nation project”=)
BUT its always fun to read these mainly for the bashing.
Keep up the good work!
Comment by Tip — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
I was really shocked when i heard abt it..Cant really think how someone can be stabbed to death in broad daylight! My condolneces too!
Comment by prakas — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Did the police come from Helsinki too??? What about the so called City “security” guard? have they trained to just wear a security suit?
A friend told that the incident started long before he stabbed the retired person…So much time to react…and they are talking about joining a rapid force in NATO…but should start looking in their doorstep first…
I have to say as well that when people tell that Finland is the safest place, I always tell them: you have been lucky!. My arguments are simple: Drunks and Drugs and sometime racism or stupid behaviour.
Drunks: You will find them everywhere, looks like police or in general public have accepted them as “normal” people or just get too much used to them. I’m always scared when I get out of some train stations or other crowded places. They are always around and i always try to be carefull (especially when they come chatting to you), because you never know that they have knive or some erratic behaviour driven by alcohol…
It should just be forbidden to drink or being drunk in public places…but then again..it’s in the interest of this government to have a pool of people that gets drunk regularly, the reason: ALKO Monopoly…(by the way they open one in the city center, on the way out from train/metro to Helsinki center, so nobody can miss it…)
Another thing, i don’t think it’s insulated event. It’s just because it hit a tourist. I think there is quite much stabbing in general due to alcohol…
And my big condoleance to that poor retired (who worked hard all his life for having a good life in retirement ;-
Comment by just passing by — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 3:19 pm
“have no idea how things work here.”
Huh, this guy was known, prob had a criminal record that extends to the floor and one can’t tell that the system is broken?
Yea, the system worked well? Didn’t it.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 10:12 pm
Drunks are nothing to be afraid of. They like to make noise or sometimes come to talk but not so often are violent. Pepole always in finland know places where druks are 24h-day but very rarely in those places can be seen police visiting or actual violence. Its more common to see violence next to bar or in some public place than in among the regular drunks around the block.
Comment by Mauno — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 10:12 pm
A sad case but this “so much for safe Finland” talk is nonsense.
You don’t judge the safety of a country based on a single incident.
And it’s not like it’s the first act of random violence in Finland either. In fact, somebody posted a statistics on FF the other day and Finland didn’t do all that well.
‘just passing by’ wrote:
What about the so called City “security†guard? have they trained to just wear a security suit?
There’s no such thing as a City security guard.
People are keen to bash the security guards of Porvoo City Market. Yet nobody seems to know if there even were any guards on duty at the time of the incident. The guards are hired to look after the property of the store and too often they are put to do other dirty work like pushing trolleys around. The guards are not hired to stand outside the market in case a knife-wielding maniac shows up. You would have a case against the guard only if he saw the whole thing and chose to do nothing. (Although, even in this case, it must be pointed out that the guard would probably have been a 20-something college kid with no training to handle situations like this.) If there was a guard on duty and he didn’t see the whole incident because he was surveying customers on the 2nd floor of the City Market then that’s too bad, but that’s what he’s paid for.
It’s funny how people think security guards are some kind of cops. They are not. Yet, when a security guard acts beyond his powers - like giving a wife-beating jackass a few good smacks on the head - people instantly cry out of the evils the guards do. You can’t have it both ways.
Comment by mh — Fri, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 11:48 pm
Yeah, I used to be working as security in an equivalent place… out of the doors= out of my problem.
If the security guard of the citymarked went and say maced the assailant, they’d be in more trouble (lost their job) and in assailing some innocent….
Comment by Hank W. — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 1:26 am
That’s why they call it ‘Tourist Season’
Comment by hfb — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 2:04 am
Yeah, it’s amazing that Finland is considered safe by some dickheads. Tourists being murdered is in fact very common. Do not come here if you want to stay alive!
http://www.shaniaforums.com/archive/index.php/t-36365.html
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 11:01 am
If you look at the statistcs on crime, especially homicide statistics:
http://www.optula.om.fi/31375.htm =>
The realtionship between victim and perpetrator
http://www.optula.om.fi/uploads/t0r7qi3irm1n6t.pdf
shows the trend of “random killings” is still quite low.
Comment by Hank W. — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
Did the police come from Helsinki too??? What about the so called City “security†guard? have they trained to just wear a security suit?
No, the police came from BorgÃ¥/Porvoo. It’s just that apparently it is the 112 alarm centre that has the technology and communications to get the emergency services to the right place quicker. Ringing the reception desk directly at the police station in BorgÃ¥ is apparently slower and not designed for emergency response.
I think supermarket security guards are there to prevent people from stealing goods from the shop, not from intervening in this kind of thing for which they are not trained (and is not their purpose).
Finland is a safe country but nowhere is immune from this sort of freak incident. That does not make it any less shocking when such a thing occurs.
Comment by JG — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
17: And, of course, your link did in no way corroborate with your anecdotal “evidence”.
Comment by Fat Bastard — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
And, of course, your link did in no way corroborate with your anecdotal “evidenceâ€Â.
Whatever. But why do you feel like a fat bastard? I think that anybody that feels like a fat bastard should take a look at a mirror, revamp oneself and then come back telling others what to think.
Anytheway, I’m not sure what this discussion is about, but: Didi you know that in southern Finland people kill themselves or each other less than in the Stockholm area, for example. Strange …
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
I’m not sure what this discussion is about either, but some of the commenters seem strangely giddy about someone getting killed, as if it proves something.
Comment by Erik — Sat, Jun 23rd, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
21: Let me quote an old and worn adage for you: I maybe fat, but I can diet. You’ll still be stupid.
Comment by Fat Bastard — Mon, Jun 25th, 2007 @ 7:22 pm
My condolences to the victim’s family as well. But, regarding how the story was told on this site, I’d like to present the ‘United Statesian’ view, i.e. how things would have happened there:
1. A mentally disturbed person feels disconnected from the society.
2. He has no way to reach the long-lost health care band wagon and has lost any chances for proper treatment.
3. He has access to real fire power in local wal-marts.
4. Instead of knife, he uses guns to run amok and cause damage within large perimeter.
5. SWAT team arrives and puts the man down by force.
6. Huge amounts of grief and sorrow is the final result, plus an abundant discussion about constructing a firepower-based pre-emptive system that would prevent such accidents from recurring.
Sounds familiar?
My point: In this case of Finnish knifing incident, governmental gun policies very likely prevented the accident from escalating to a total disaster. Health-care policy is still giving a chance for treatment for any person (regardless of social status) with mental/physiological problems. While saying that, I agree that the traditional health care system is facing problems in the contemporary Nordic welfare model.
Comment by Anonymous — Thu, Jun 28th, 2007 @ 6:45 pm