diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 5f792de44e..d9d41f7e71 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 
+2.1-654 | 2013-05-17 13:49:52 -0700
+
+  * Tweaks to sqlite3 configuration to address threading issues.
+    (Bernhard Amann)
+
 2.1-651 | 2013-05-17 13:37:16 -0700
 
   * Fix uninitialized DPM member. (Jon Siwek)
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 03cea9c71f..3318fb06e3 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.1-651
+2.1-654
diff --git a/src/3rdparty/sqlite3.c b/src/3rdparty/sqlite3.c
index 77f14da90d..ba6a30e132 100644
--- a/src/3rdparty/sqlite3.c
+++ b/src/3rdparty/sqlite3.c
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# define SQLITE_THREADSAFE 2
+# define SQLITE_DEFAULT_MEMSTATUS 0
+
 /******************************************************************************
 ** This file is an amalgamation of many separate C source files from SQLite
 ** version 3.7.16.2.  By combining all the individual C code files into this 
diff --git a/src/logging/writers/SQLite.cc b/src/logging/writers/SQLite.cc
index 22037f029e..81c52fe198 100644
--- a/src/logging/writers/SQLite.cc
+++ b/src/logging/writers/SQLite.cc
@@ -35,13 +35,17 @@ SQLite::SQLite(WriterFrontend* frontend) : WriterBackend(frontend)
 
 	db = 0;
 	io = new AsciiFormatter(this, AsciiFormatter::SeparatorInfo(set_separator, unset_field, empty_field));
+	st = 0;
 	}
 
 SQLite::~SQLite()
 	{
 	if ( db != 0 )
 		{
-		sqlite3_close(db);
+		sqlite3_finalize(st);
+		if ( ! sqlite3_close(db) )
+			Error("Sqlite could not close connection");
+
 		db = 0;
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/threading/Queue.h b/src/threading/Queue.h
index 5988c94042..792fb63f9c 100644
--- a/src/threading/Queue.h
+++ b/src/threading/Queue.h
@@ -113,8 +113,9 @@ private:
 
 inline static void safe_lock(pthread_mutex_t* mutex)
 	{
-	if ( pthread_mutex_lock(mutex) != 0 )
-		reporter->FatalErrorWithCore("cannot lock mutex");
+	int res = pthread_mutex_lock(mutex);
+	if ( res != 0 )
+		reporter->FatalErrorWithCore("cannot lock mutex: %d(%s)", res, strerror(res));
 	}
 
 inline static void safe_unlock(pthread_mutex_t* mutex)