http://www.rtvutrecht.nl/nieuws/1677311/
DEN DOLDER - "I would be particularly naive to think that one can cycle here safely in the evening," Evert de Olde says. He lives near the Altrecht grounds where yesterday Michael P., a sex offender, was arrested for the disappearance of Anne Faber. For some time now, residents of Den Dolder have been troubled by the presence of criminals in the psychatric clinics in the village.
"My daughter of sixteen, and also my two daughters who have already left the home, grew up with the awareness that there are many people in the village who are on leave," according to De Olde. "Often you can tell it about them, for example, from their behaviour. As a parent, I find it difficult to find the balance. You want to protect and control your children, but also raise them in freedom.
Rob Zee of the Stakeholder Association Den Dolder says that psychiatric patients in the village are not the problem. "Of course they have been there for a hundred years," Zee says. "In the institution, confused people are living. You sometimes have problems with them, and the fact that two Altrecht patients were behind that series of car fires was, of course, terrible. But what is happening now is not acceptable.
Zee refers to the forensic departments, where convicted criminals reside. "These clinics have not been there for so long, only ten years or so. These people should be much more closely monitored. If Altrecht had looked more closely at the past of that sex offender, they should have reacted a little differently. The village is very sad about that.
Antonia Vos-Hoogsteden, a slightly older resident of Den Dolder, agrees. According to her, the danger does not come so much from psychiatric patients. "When the weather is fine, I see them walking around with their supervisor. I have never had any problems with that. But if this happens, you're starting to think about it: where is this going?
Mrs Vos says that she feels increasingly unsafe these days. "Crime has increased enormously, I think, after all. I have everything locked up all day long.
"We're used to quite a lot here," De Olde tells,"and most of the local residents are sympathetic to the boys with limited freedoms you see walking in the village. Surely they have to go back to society. It would be difficult to send them to Siberia.
But there are riots regularly in the village, he describes.
"People with severe abnormal behaviour. I myself also intervened a few times when a boy was bothering others. You cannot let that kind of guys walk outside freely, those guys can't handle the freedom."
He does not let his daughters walk or cycle through the village alone in the evening. "We bring and fetch them as much as possible. Even though they know fairly well what to do if something happens, you can't train them against such people. That really is a problem."
Rob Zee of the interest group wants more discussion about the presence of criminals in the village. Now that it seems that Michael P. is involved in the disappearance of 25-year-old Anne Faber, enough is enough.
An evening about safety was cancelled this morning. The locals of Den Dolder are disappointed, but the police want to focus their attention and efforts on finding Anne Faber.
Mayor Koos Janssen did not want to address the concerns of the local residents near Altrecht in front of RTV Utrecht.
BBM
