When the conference of federal and state interior ministers connects by video on Thursday and Friday, the topic of the early detection of gunmen like the man who deliberately killed five people in his SUV a year ago in the Trier pedestrian zone will also be on their agenda. The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) wants to present his colleagues in office with a 67-page final report from his State Criminal Police Office (LKA). Since March 2020, the LKA has been working with the three police authorities of Münster, Bielefeld and Kleve to develop the nationwide unique project "Periscope", which is intended to help the security authorities to identify in good time which authorities or offices have known about for a long time. People run amok.In the test phase, there were 35 test cases at the police headquarters in Bielefeld and Münster and at the Kleve district police authority. "The periscope concept has proven itself in the pilot phase," says Reul of the FAZ. The North Rhine-Westphalian interior minister is now examining the nationwide introduction. According to the positive project results, he is also certain “that the periscope is not only worthwhile for North Rhine-Westphalia”.

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Periscope stands for "action and test case concept for the early detection of and dealing with people with risk potential".

The bulky name illustrates the complexity of the matter.

Especially since the relapse prognosis should not be at the center of early detection.

Rather, it is about people who do not yet have an extensive or no criminal history or who have not yet been the focus of the police.

From the evaluation of previous rampage cases, however, it is known "that perpetrators regularly hint at their - mostly long-term - planned actions or consciously or unconsciously scatter information", as it says in the LKA's final report, which is available to the FAZ.

It's not about politically motivated acts

Even if the boundaries between madness and terror are fluid, as the cases of the Hanau assassin at the beginning of 2020 or the stabber of Würzburg show last summer, periscope is not about politically motivated acts. There are already other instruments for this, such as “RADAR-iTE”, a step model with which the Federal Criminal Police Office assesses the risk posed by Islamist threats; from next year there will also be “RADAR-right”. At the same time, the periscope is based on basic state security experience. As for threats who are trusted to carry out a politically motivated attack at any time, there are also so-called case conferences for periscope cases. But they are also attended by employees of health authorities, clinics and other bodies who are not used to it so far.to share their knowledge with the security authorities. In essence, Periskop is about "trusting cooperation on site across authorities and institutional boundaries," says Interior Minister Reul. “Ideally, people with risk potential in North Rhine-Westphalia end up on our radar earlier and thus we minimize the risk of serious acts of violence.” The pilot project has shown how enormously successful the combination of scientific, forensic-psychological and police expertise is in early detection.“The pilot project has shown how enormously successful the combination of scientific, forensic-psychological and police expertise is in early detection.“The pilot project has shown how enormously successful the combination of scientific, forensic-psychological and police expertise is in early detection.

The periscope project is nevertheless a tightrope walk. The German Society for Social Psychiatry warned against stigmatization of the mentally ill. In the periscope guide for police officers, therefore, directly on the cover sheet in bold letters: “There is no general suspicion of persons with mental impairments or disorders!” A person may only become a periscope case if he “poses a danger due to his or her individual behavior can cause ", which is more than just abstract and" would affect the life and limb of others to a considerable extent ".

The following two-sided catalog of criteria makes it clear how high the hurdle is: There must be a problem with violence - a person must have already been noticed by threats of violence or have a noticeable affinity for weapons. Like a man from Bielefeld who was out on the street with a samurai sword and said he had to "hack" people. The police found a submachine gun in a second Bielefeld man who had been noticed in the past for resisting law enforcement officers, threats and domestic violence. He is now in custody.

Police measures are not always necessary - as the case of a man from the Lower Rhine region shows, who rioted several times in his refugee home after consuming alcohol and drugs. When the police, immigration authorities, public order and health authorities had gathered all available information in their case conference, it quickly became clear that the man was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression because of his war experiences. In a clinic he was "put on medication and discharged after ten days", since then he has not been suspicious, according to the LKA report. The local authorities are now trying to accompany the refugee into a regular life and have arranged for him, for example, to do an internship. Nevertheless, it should remain a periscope test case - better safe than sorry.

"Of course, the periscope does not provide 100% security either," says Reul.

After all, you will never be able to predict and prevent all scenarios and dangers in advance.

"But the periscope is an important component that fits into the existing early detection concepts of the North Rhine-Westphalian police."