Aarau shooting shakes confidence in public safety

The shooting at a rave party in Aarau has shaken people’s basic trust in public safety in Switzerland, SRF reports. Criminologist Ineke Pruin of the University of Bern said the incident had primarily affected people’s sense of security.

Switzerland is extremely safe, Pruin said, but every train accident, serious accident or major crime reminds people of what can happen. “Then the feeling sets in that everything is dangerous and nobody is safe anymore,” she said.

However, perceived safety and actual safety are not the same. A person can feel extremely unsafe despite being statistically very safe, Pruin said. This is known as the “fear of crime paradox”: groups with a statistically low risk of becoming victims, such as women and older people, can have particularly high fears of crime. Young men, meanwhile, tend to be less afraid even though crime statistics show they are most frequently victims of violent offences.

Rave organisers in the canton of Aargau have called for a stronger police presence at larger events. Pruin said this could reassure visitors, even if it did not fundamentally change the level of security. She said solidarity was more important, including looking out for one another and reporting suspicious behaviour.

Lyn Ellen Pleger and Alma Ramsden, lecturers at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, said the shock was especially strong when an act was unexpected, difficult to predict and took place in a location generally perceived as safe. People did not assess risks purely on the basis of statistics, they said.

The Conference of Cantonal Justice and Police Directors said the call for more police presence was understandable. Switzerland’s public spaces were nevertheless very safe by international comparison, it said. The cantons had long worked to secure more police funding, including to hire more officers for street duty. Even a very high police density, however, could not guarantee complete safety.

Highly spectacular, violent and barely predictable events, such as terrorist attacks or plane crashes, remain particularly vivid in people’s memories, Pleger and Ramsden said. After a shooting, people do not consider the statistical likelihood of becoming a victim. Instead, they think: “If it could happen there, it could happen to me.”

Research on mass shootings shows increased anxiety, stress reactions and other psychological strain among those directly affected and people in their social environment. Even those not directly involved can experience stronger short-term fears and a reduced sense of security.

Pleger and Ramsden said it was crucial to observe whether fear changed people’s behaviour. People might avoid certain events, go out less at night, stop visiting particular places or place greater restrictions on their children. If such behaviour continued for a long time, it could have broader social consequences, including social isolation.