Cooperation with schools has got off to an excellent start
Police cooperation with schools has got off to an excellent start across Finland. An estimated 40 police officers with different missions are working together with schools and positive results can already be noted.
The police have stepped up their work with children and young people. All police stations in Finland have more police officers working with schools. The police have used additional funding to hire 25 new school police officers, but the real input is greater.
“It can be estimated that there are currently 40 people with different missions in the police working together with schools. In addition to full-time school police officers, many police officers are also working with schools in addition to their own duties. Their main duties may be, for example, dealing with emergency responses, traffic control or criminal investigations,” says Assistant Police Commissioner Pasi Rissanen.
Police departments have had structures in place for preventive action, which has allowed for more cooperation.
“The police have actively visited schools, including during recess. Good results can already be seen. We want the police to be seen as reliable, safe and easily approachable,” says Assistant Police Commissioner Pasi Rissanen referring to the increased cooperation.
The police used additional funding to recruit 25 police officers to work with schools and some of the money will be spent on materials, including material related to online lessons. Rissanen hopes that the funding can be continued.
A national School25 Team also works in the police and among other things is responsible for online lessons. The first online lessons which schools and educational institutions could sign up for will take place during 10-13 March. The good news from the School25 Team is that more than 3,500 have signed up!
“We’ll know the number of pupils participating once the lessons have been held, but the estimated number of pupils reached will be in the tens if not hundreds of thousands. The geographical outreach is from Utsjoki to Hanko and beyond and even the Åland Islands have signed up. We think this is really great,” Rissanen says.
Lessons will be recorded so that they can be viewed afterwards.
All police departments have started working with schools under the model and schools have already been contacted. Contact details and the Police and cooperation with schools - when and how to contact the police guidelines have been disseminated to schools. As a rule, the guidelines have been sent to municipal registries via electronic distribution channels.
Police cooperation with schools or the school policing model consists of three elements:
- online-lessons
- problem solving
- dissemination
Police reach and presence will increase through the combination of these elements.
The police have unfortunately been unable to respond to all requests for cooperation. Now, additional funding has enabled the police to increase its presence in schools during 2025, especially in problem-solving situations, and to increase education on legality, especially through online lessons. All schools will be offered the chance to join in lessons which can take place online or in conjunction with a school visit. In addition, schools can contact the police by phone or email in case of problem situations.
Police news item 24 January 2025: Police lessons for all schools in Finland
Police news item 15 January 2025: Police to contact schools soon
Police news item 22 November 2024: Police to step up presence in schools
