Angry at Police incompetence

Although I have a bee in my bonnet, at this moment I am not still riling about the most incompetent bank in the world, the ICICI Bank in India, but the total incompetence of the Finnish Police.

I received information about the killings in Espoo from Facebook friends from far and wide. They were expressing their amazement at the killings in a peaceful country, Finland.

I was unaware of the developments till about noon. Then messages and emails started to pour in asking what was the reason for this tragic situation in a peaceful country.

(My first reaction, not knowing anything about the incident at that stage, was that it was probably the work of an Open Care Psychiatric patient, as in Finland they are closing psychiatric wards and letting these patients out to fend for themselves. A stupid policy with serious repercussions.)

These killings of today were totally unnecessary. The responsibility lies totally with the Finnish Police. They were incompetent, as for generations of a Police State, have been the masters of being behind the rich and powerful - in short corrupt.

I remember how, in 1975, they were trigger happy and killed an innocent fisherman in a boat on a lake in Helsinki, just because there was an international conference (European Security Conference) to be held at the Finlandia House a mile or so away! Consequences after whitewash - NONE!

Here was the case of a man who had been convicted twice of having used firearms violently. The Police, preoccupied with their own agenda, had left him in possession of a lethal weapon.

Recently, before our trip to India, Mika, Annikki and I had visited the Sello Shopping Complex for some last minute shopping. Anneli, Annikki's sister, had been with us and we had had lunch in the Complex. Mika in the meanwhile, while window shopping, had got lost, causing him (and me) to have a terrible fright.

Location Espoo, Finland
Built 2003/2005
Architect Helin & Co Archiects
Floor space 99 000 m²
Customers in 2006 17,3 milj. v. 2006
Sales in 2006 307,0 milj. v. 2006
Parking places 2 900
Number of floors 4
Web page Sello Shopping Complex

The Shopping Complex is so enormous and totally useless (in my opinion).

Both Annikki and I had been to the PRISMA market (where the shootings took place). We needed help to buy some stuff. During the half hour we were there, we could not find a single shop assistant to help us. (To be fair, the situation in the neighbouring CITYMARKET, was equally bad!) we bought nothing!

How this gunman found four shop assistants in a few minutes and killed them will remain a mystery to me!

The gunman, a 43 year old Kosovo Albanian refugee, had broken up with his ex-girl friend who had a job in the PRISMA shop.

My reasoning is that this was a crime of revenge against someone who had been a thorn in his ego. Probably at being dumped, something which is very common in Finnish society, but not obviously a very good experience for a new Finn, a person coming from a male chauvistic alien society. (This type of social mores should be one of the most important aspects to be taught when any refugee settles here, especially when coming from a male dominant society.)

The gunman went there early morning, probably looking for his ex-girl friend, and in the process shot four of her colleagues. Then he calmly walked out, went to his ex-girl friend's home and killed her. He returned to his home and then killed himself.

In all that time, the Police were twiddling their thumbs as they could not piece together the information and save lives. They knew exactly who the person was within minutes of the shooting, and yet they had no one posted at the man's residence soon after the event.

In Finland, the Population Register System is so efficient, that if one moves house, within a week, all agencies are aware of the move!

The Police were obviously relieved that the gunman shot himself, as they would be no nasty investigation about how they let him hold on to his gun when he had been twice convicted of using the firearm unreasonably, first by the Court of Espoo and then by the Court of Helsinki.

Espoo is a neighbouring city to Helsinki with an adjoining border, very much like the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in India.

Sello Shopping Centre is situated in Leppävaara, a suburb of Espoo, where we have a number of furnished apartments for rent, as it is well connected by bus and train to Helsinki and is also a place where several IT companies and Nokia and NSN have major operational centres. Additionally, being on the Ring Road 1, it is well connected by road to all parts around Helsinki.

The first thing I did was ring our local representative in Espoo, Ganesan, to check whether he was OK. He lives and works just a few hundred metres from the Sello Shopping Complex. He assured me that he (and all our tenants) were OK as it was a working day and they would all probably have been at work.

I was worried about some of our tenants wives, who may have ventured into this large shopping complex, as it has everything under one roof. A sort of window shopping paradise for a housewife.

Then I heard that the first four victims were all members of staff of the PRISMA shop, which meant none of our tenants or their wives would be on the tragedy list.

I watched TV after that.

The Police Press Briefing was at 14:30, where they were still reporting that the gunman was on the loose, several hours after the shooting. This told me what I already knew, the incompetence of the Finnish Police force.

Call the Finnish Police for an incident, and if your opponent has "credentials", they will turn a blind eye to the situation and the law. Police Chiefs stand firm behind their corrupt underlings and their powerful friends. In our experience, there is no more corrupt force (in my humble opinion) than the Finnish!

This time they had turned a blind eye to 2 convictions.

No one but the Finnish Police must be held responsible for this tragedy, which never should have been.