Police in Southwest Finland have revealed more details about the investigation of a young man suspected of surreptitiously filming girls in a school dressing room in Turku.
On Wednesday it was reported that police suspect a young male classroom assistant at the St Olofsskolan school secretly filmed around 230 girls in a school dressing room, from December 2021 until the spring term of 2022.
Police say that in 35 cases, the videos captured undressed children, prompting investigators to suspect the man of sexual exploitation as well as pornography distribution crimes.
St Olofsskolan provides basic education for Swedish-speaking pupils in grades 7–9.
Speaking with Swedish-language news unit Svenska Yle, Detective Inspector Maria Sainio said that officers tracked down the suspect on the island municipality of Pargas after the school told police that a cleaner had noticed a couple of holes in a girls' dressing room ceiling.
"We didn't find the camera at the scene. We investigated and concluded that there might have been a camera there and then the investigation continued until we found the perpetrator," Sainio said, according to Svenska Yle.
Motive still unclear
The DI said it was a question of a very small camera.
Sainio said it was still unclear whether the suspect had secretly filmed other victims elsewhere.
"It's part of a larger whole we're investigating, and I cannot say anything with 100 percent certainty — at the moment this is what we know," she said.
The detective inspector declined to comment about how much video footage the suspect managed to record, but said it was a question of several tens of videos.
Sainio said the suspect has "mostly" confessed to the crimes.
However, the motives of the young man remain unclear, as he has not explained why he committed the crimes, according to police.
In a press release on Wednesday, police said that apart from the suspected illegal secret filming and sexual exploitation crimes, the man is also suspected of distributing pornographic images — even though investigators have not found evidence suggesting he had shared the footage with others.
"During the preliminary investigation, it has not emerged that the secretly filmed videos were distributed anywhere. Since the crime classification of distribution of a pornographic image also includes the production of such an image – in this case, illegal photography – this [criminal] classification must also be taken into account in the case," DI Sainio said in Wednesday's press release.
City plans changes
Svenska Yle has also reported the City of Turku's Deputy Mayor Elina Rantanen (Green) saying that the incident has prompted plans for the City to review its hiring processes and routines.
"It's a very sad and unfortunate incident that should not have happened. I am truly sorry for the students. Of course, the city needs to review its processes to ensure that we do our utmost to prevent similar incidents," Rantanen told Svenska Yle.
She added that the incident has also motivated inspections of other school dressing and locker rooms in the city.
"Of course you can't do it all the time. If someone really wants to do these things, they will surely find a way to do it," Rantanen said.
The deputy mayor's responsibilities include child and youth issues. She said that she understands the concerns that the incident has raised among schoolkids and their parents, but underscored that everyone should still feel safe in the city's schools.
She also pointed out that these kinds of incidents are rare.
"Although it wasn't possible to prevent this incident, the person was found and held criminally liable. Schools in Finland are safe," Rantanen said.
