Blog by the National Police Commissioner: The police in Finland use firearm with deliberation and on rare occasions

The police in Finland use a firearm on a very few occasions by international comparison. In his blog post, the National Police Commissioner of Finland provides information on the use of firearms by the police and related phenomena based on statistics, and on changes in the operating environment.

In Finland, the police have to discharge their firearm on an average of about 20 to 30 occasions per year in the course of their official duties. This figure includes situations in which targeted shots have been used to stop dangerous activities, including warning shots. The number has remained about the same in the long run, and the use of a firearm has not increased significantly, even though individual cases receive a lot of public attention.

It can be considered that the police use a firearm on rare occasions only in proportion to the more than one million annual emergency assignments. In international comparison, Finland’s figures are low, which reflects factors such as the high level of police training and the effective use of alternative means of force, such as taser.

The operating environment has changed

The everyday work of the police is challenged to an increasing degree by violent resistance to a public official, assignments related to mental disorders, and unpredictable situations caused by synthetic narcotics, such as alpha-PVP. As a result, the police have had to prepare themselves in a more varied way and develop the protective equipment and use-of-force equipment of the personnel to correspond to the changed threats.

The use of a firearm is always a last resort

There is a high threshold for the use of a firearm by the police. It is never a routine measure, but an extreme means that is resorted to only in situations where no other option is possible. Almost always, the person against whom force has to be used has had the opportunity to refrain from violent action before the police have to use force. Every incident that has led to injury to the target person is investigated by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

In his blog, the National Police Commissioner emphasises that it is important to conduct a public discussion on the use of force by the police on the basis of facts and statistics, not on the basis of individual headlines.