Today, the National Police Board has received the annual Sumuverho (‘smoke screen’) award by Oikeustoimittajat ry (Finnish Association of Legal Journalists). One of the reasons for the award is the recently released police publicity handbook.
The National Police Board appreciates the recognition and dedicates the award to Section 24 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities and its numerous provisions on the secrecy of documents.
“Following the rule of law is the starting point for all police activities. In our daily work, we face enormous challenges in applying the Act on the Openness of Government Activities in practice. This is exemplified by the scope of the police’s publicity handbook, which runs for over 140 pages,” says Detective Chief Superintendent Maarit Salomaa from the National Police Board.
The handbook lists instructions for interpreting the law and describes precedents set by various court instances and chief public legal supervisors. Since entering into force 20 years ago, the current law has given rise to numerous legal disputes and decisions.
Police guidelines evolve hand-in-hand with case law
The police publicity handbook is intended as a tool to help interpret legislation and case law, but each office-holder is ultimately personally responsible for the justification and lawfulness of their decisions.
“The handbook is a so-called living document that changes and adapts as case law evolves. As we speak, there are several complaints being processed in administrative courts over decisions made by the police related to secrecy. Naturally, all of these will be heard and taken into consideration,” Salomaa says.
In case law, the police have so far been criticised for excessive openness rather than excessive confidentiality. Salomaa tells that this was a key motivator for the new publicity handbook.
“It should be noted that in the first place, the police does not classify documents out of its own interest but due to its obligation as a public authority to apply existing law in practice,” says Salomaa.
The Act on the Openness of Government Activities includes both unconditional and discretionary grounds for secrecy. The police must comply with all unconditional secrecy obligations, regardless of whether such secrecy appears warranted or in line with public opinion.
“Even if disclosing information would serve to promote public discourse and overall openness, public officials cannot ignore or alter the content or intent of the law,” Maarit Salomaa says.
In order to prevent crime, we must be able to talk about crime
Salomaa says that the broader issue is ultimately whether the law could be reformed to better correspond to today’s reality.
“The police would also benefit if criminal phenomena could be discussed more openly, as this would also help our work in preventing crime.”
There is also a need to improve the transfer of information between public authorities, such as between security authorities and social welfare and health services.
Data leaks have no place in the police organisation
As a public authority, the police is intimately familiar with the need for legislative reform, a view which the Association of Legal Journalists is likely to share. Still, a recurring topic in daily discussions is that public authorities should bypass the law and leak information in order to achieve some form of greater good. Such greater good might involve preventing new crimes or correcting false information.
“As a public authority, this is of course something we cannot approve when there is no lawful basis for releasing the information. Data leaks have no place in the police organisation. They are crimes which we treat with the utmost seriousness,” says Maarit Salomaa.
