The app Cosafe is investigated after two deaths at Risbergska school

During the mass shooting at Campus Risbergska on February 4, many teachers and students tried to barricade themselves and lock the door, what is called to accommodate.

But in the midst of ongoing shooting, the call « Space » was sent via a special app, Cosafe, to parts of the staff.

– But there was no chance that we would leave our hiding place, has teacher Lena Warenmark earlier Told in DN.

Now it turns out that other people at the school followed the call, and that it may have had fatal consequences. A class that had housed left the room when the instruction to evacuate came via the app, according to a notification to the Swedish Work Environment Authority.

Later emerged that two students had been shot to death, something that P4 Örebro Be the first to report.

« When we heard the alarm we received a message that is said to be evacuated. Then we escaped out of the room. Two of my students were shot and passed away, » it says in a notification that was made on March 11.

DN has taken note of more notifications to the Swedish Work Environment Authority that applies to Cosafe. In one of them, a teacher who was at home describes that she followed the event development at the school via her mobile:

« What made me extra stressed was that the alarm I got showed evacuation, but it was the accommodation that applied. It stressed me extra much as communication is so important and vital. »

At the same time, the opposite call, « house », was sent out via Cosafe to other parts of the staff at the school during the mass shooting, according to DN’s report.

Close to one -third Of Sweden’s municipalities have purchased various safety apps and more municipalities are planning to obtain just Cosafe after the Örebrodåd, according to a survey that DN has done.

The price tag varies, but the municipalities pay a basic amount and then current monthly costs for each license, each user who installs the app on their mobile or computer.

Now Örebro Municipality, which has had the app at its adult education and upper secondary schools for several years, will investigate whether it is a security risk and whether it should remain.

– Right now we are looking at just that. The municipal director has ordered an investigation that started last week and will evaluate the handling of the entire act of violence. The app is part of it. This analysis will be very crucial. Should we have apps over the main? Nothing is sacred anymore, everything must be seen, says high school manager Mokhtar Bennis.

Do you take any urgent action regarding the app, due to what happened?

– I have a hard time commenting on that. Should it be a sharp position again, we probably wouldn’t use the app in the same way, it is under investigation.

Are you going to pause the use of the app?

– That question has not been relevant, but there are already thoughts about what we can do to prevent the same thing from happening again.

DN has searched the company Cosafe who does not want to put up an interview. Instead, a written statement is sent through press officer Inger Söderholm.

She writes that Cosafe has a special PDV mode that gives off a sound alarm if someone activates it. Then notes are silenced so as not to reveal where people are hiding.

Söderholm writes that the system does not send out any automatic alarms:

« Customers choose which users to enter the system and which should be able to use the alarm function and communicate. »

When someone buys the app, Cosafe educates those who will use it.

« But training in how each individual should act in a specific event is made by the customer or by the customer hired actor/expert in the field as the local conditions may look different, » writes Söderholm.

In 2007, occurred One of the deadliest school attacks in the Nordic countries, at a school in Finnish Jokela. Afterwards, an extensive, state evaluation was made and one of the aspects that were reviewed was alarm system, how teachers and students can be warned in a serious event. The recommendation to the country’s schools was to install a speaker system.

The evaluation that Örebro Municipality has started is done by the consulting company Ernst & Young, says Mokhtar Bennis, and is expected to be ready in a few weeks.

Read more:

The chats from inside the school: « Shooting. Stay where you are »