Now that the COVID-19 restrictions of public gatherings have been partly lifted, the arrangements of various summer events start to pick up. This is the reason why there is a bit of a backlog at the handling of public event notifications at the Police permit services.
- In addition to the very many new events now in the pipeline, the busy situation is also due to the fact that the notifications are filed late, and with incomplete information, for the applications to be handled in time, Head of Permit Service Administration Hanna Piipponen of the National Police Board comments on the situation.
The organiser must file a written notification of a public event with the Police of the location in question no later than five days before the event start. In case of smaller events, the Police can accept a notification made later if the event arrangements do not affect public order negatively. When filed, the notification should be complete, with appendices.
According to Hanna Piipponen, a public event notification filed too late or with incomplete information will cause difficulties both to the permit authorities and the event organiser.
- The five-day deadline is the absolute minimum, but it will not give the organiser sufficient time to implement eventual orders issued by the authorities; the worst case scenario is that the event must be cancelled.
From the perspective of the authorities responsible for the permits, the late action by the organiser can cause difficulty to have the decision made in time for the arrangements, and the handling of other permit-related issues gets congested as permits are always in a busy demand in the summer.
Hanna Piipponen underlines that it is always the organiser who is responsible for the event and public safety.
- The timely filing of public event notifications in the correct form is a requirement for ensuring the overall safety of the public event. The event has the best chances of becoming a success when the advance planning and the cooperation with the authorities has been performed with due care.
For filing the notifications for public events, please go to the Police website Public events - Police (poliisi.fi)
