Fake police have become a serious problem

Fake police have emerged as a serious problem in Finland. During the current year, close to 800 criminal reports have been filed concerning people impersonating officials, i.e., claiming to be police officers, and the related fraud and attempts at such crimes.

Criminals posing as so-called fake police officers exploit Finns’ trust in officialdom. Fake police particularly fish for old people’s bank cards and online banking codes. Criminal damage caused by fake police comes to over EUR 500,000. The police have succeeded in freezing criminals’ bank accounts worth around the same amount, with the help of the banks’ security units.

The modus operandi involved keeps changing and all kinds of fraud have increased based on exploiting public trust in the police, bank staff and other parties that inspire trust. In addition to phone calls, fraudsters have sought access to the homes of elderly people to “check” their valuables, cash and weapons.

National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen says that cooperation between the police and other parties, such as the financial sector and those working with the elderly, has increased in the prevention of fake police officers.

– We would warn elderly people in particular, who are possible targets of fake police, that they must keep information on their assets, bank cards and accounts secret and that the police never ask for such details as part of their work, says Kolehmainen.

Last year, the police proposed a legislative change toughening the penalties for impersonating an official. For example, this would enable the use of covert coercive measures such as intercepting telephone calls, make such crimes easier to prevent, and improve the prospects of solving them.

The number of crimes decreased, urgent tasks increased

In January-September, a total of 579,860 crimes were reported to the police, i.e. six percent fewer than a year ago. Sexual harassment and property offences, particularly online fraud and means of payment fraud, have decreased. There has also been a reduction in homicides, aggravated assaults and rape offences.

The number of urgency category A assignments received by the police grew by almost six percent, i.e., around 3,100. Most of this growth is due to an increase in the number of domestic disturbance and traffic-related assignments.

Statistical decrease in number of fraud offences

The number of property crimes fell by around ten percent in January to September, i.e., by over 17,000 offences compared to the year before.

This reduction was particularly pronounced in the case of fraud, with around 1,000 fewer such crimes being reported to the police than a year ago. Online fraud and means of payment fraud account for most of this reduction, since they decreased by around 44 percent compared to the previous year.

Recorded cases of fraud occurring abroad decreased by over 70 percent, i.e, around 3,200 cases. This is partly due to a change in the way the police report cases of means of payment fraud. Such crimes are no longer recorded as reports of offences but as miscellaneous reports because, according to their statutory definitions, they are not committed in Finland.

Due to these changes in statistical methods, the figures cannot be directly compared to those for previous years.

Greater public knowledge of the phenomenon has also contributed to the decrease. For example, the companies in whose names the fraud has been committed have actively intervened in cases of abuse. The issue has also received wide media coverage.

Number of burglaries has decreased, holiday home burglaries increased

The number of burglaries of inhabited residences has dropped significantly. The related incidence of aggravated theft and attempted aggravated theft declined by almost 31 percent.

On the other hand, holiday homes have been targeted by criminals and the number of burglaries increased by 26 percent compared to the previous year.

Attempted manslaughter and number of rapes increased, sexual harassment decreased

In January-September, the number of homicides, including attempts, increased by 26 percent or by 77 crimes compared to the same period the year before. Most of this increase was due to attempted manslaughter and, to some extent, to the preparation of aggravated offences against the health and lives of others.

The growth in these offences was fairly even in terms of region and time. The number of aggravated assaults has also risen by around 13 percent, or 112 offences. Most of this growth is due to aggravated assault in private locations.

The number of rape offences reported to the police increased by 11 percent or 93 offences compared to January-September in the previous year. 28.3 percent of rape offences in which the suspect has been identified were allegedly committed by foreign nationals, whereas 5.6 percent in which the injured party is known involved a non-Finnish complainant.

Just under half (43%) of the increase in the number of rape offences was accounted for by the fact that dozens of individual offences were recorded in just a few reports of an offence. Just over half (57%) of this growth in numbers was evenly distributed quantitatively and regionally, and has no clear explanatory factor.

The number of sexual harassment offences fell by over 28 percent, or 124 offences. The Me too campaign, which spread via the social media in recent weeks, may affect this situation in the latter part of the year.

Foreign nationals accounted for 37.6 percent of suspects in cases of sexual harassment. This is around ten percentage points lower than for the corresponding period last year. On the other hand, there was a rise of four percentage points (10.6%) in the involvement of foreign nationals as injured parties.

Have attitudes towards drugs relaxed?

The total number of drug offences continued to grow for the fourth consecutive year. There was around nine percent growth compared to the corresponding period last year. Detected drug offences were indicative of an increase in drug use; this conclusion is also supported by wastewater testing performed in some cities by the National Institute for Health and Welfare.

With regard to young people in particular, the police view the relaxation in attitudes towards drug use revealed in some studies as a cause for concern. Access to drugs has been facilitated by factors such as anonymous online networks, which may increase drug use.

Foreign nationals were involved in just over nine percent of all drug offences. The percentage was 23.5 in the case of gross offences, which demonstrates their international character in the case of drug imports in particular. The police aim to target investigations in such a manner that criminals at various levels of distribution organisations, including the international dimension, are held to account.

Record number of financial crimes under investigation

The number of cases of newly investigated financial crime fell by around 14 percent compared to the previous year. However, in other respects the number has been growing in recent years, due to which the total number of criminal offences currently under investigation is now record high (2,350 cases).

The throughput of investigations may have been increased by developing investigation processes in such a manner that investigation times have shortened in the last few years.

The number of traffic offences has decreased

The number of traffic offences reported to the police fell by 11 percent compared to the previous year. This is partly due to the fact that performance targets were reduced for 2017, because less working time is available for traffic surveillance. Another reason is the recruitment of extra personnel for processing criminal sanctions resulting from automatic traffic surveillance, whose training has tied down resources. It is also estimated that the amount of speeding in traffic has decreased.

The focuses for 2017 were aggravated causing of a traffic hazard and drunk driving cases, which led to the number of detected cases remaining high. We are behind with respect to automatic traffic surveillance (decrease of around 9% compared to the corresponding period last year), but the situation will improve during the rest of the year.

Fewer passport applications, but markedly more ID card applications than last year

On 1 January 2017, the processing of licences and permits for foreign nationals transferred from the police to the Finnish Immigration Service. The total volume of licence matters decreased by around nine percent from a year earlier. This fall in the overall volume is mainly due to the transfer of licence matters for foreign nationals and the lower volume of passports early in the year.

With respect to travel documents, the number of passport matters decreased by around nine percent, but that of identity card applications increased dramatically by around 24 percent compared to last year.

Around 420,000 electronic passport applications were received in January-September, which accounts for around 70 percent of all passport applications. Of these, around 230,000, or 38.5 percent, were granted without a visit to a police department (so-called simpler procedure).

In January–September, around 153,000 identity card applications were submitted, of which around 83,000 were submitted electronically. A so-called simplified procedure became possible for ID cards as well from 1 April 2017.

Approximately 16,000 security issues were initiated in January-September, of which some 6,000 were initiated electronically.

The number of police personnel continues to decline

The number of police personnel continued to decline steadily. The number of police officers fell by 72 compared to the previous year, i.e., just under one percent. There are now 7,276 police officers in total (excluding students). The number of other employees fell by 90, or just under four percent. The number of students, however, slightly increased (7.63%)

The situation with regard to crimes involving asylum seekers remains unchanged

In January-September of this year, 3,917 asylum seekers arrived in Finland, which is just under 800 fewer than at the same time last year. The number of asylum seekers totalled 30–100 per week,

most people arriving from Syria, Iraq, Eritrea and Afghanistan. The increase in the number of Syrian and Eritrean applicants is due to intra-EU transfers.

In addition, approximately 11,000 asylum seekers are awaiting a definitive decision on their residence status.

During the early part of the year, the police participated in the repatriation of some 3,000 individuals who had received a decision on removal from the country. Assigned to the police for enforcement, these removals are more challenging than before because individuals returning voluntarily are directed to the assisted voluntary return scheme, while it is left to the police to repatriate those who have received a decision on removal from the country and are less willing to return, or who have received such a decision because they have committed crimes. In addition, an increasing proportion of repatriations are to remote countries.

From 1 January to 30 September 2017, asylum seekers were the injured parties in 1,377 crimes and suspected offenders in 2,075 cases.

The numbers are roughly the same as at the corresponding time a year ago: the number of asylum seekers who were injured parties fell by 130, but the number suspected of committing a crime grew by 18.

The most prominent criminal offences, concerning both suspects and injured parties, were assault, menace, theft, petty theft and petty assault. These remained the same as last year.

The crime statistics concern the key nationalities among asylum seekers.

Police statistics pdf, 153,7 kB

Police statistics 1.1.-30.9.2017 percentage of crimes comitted by foreign natitionals pdf, 154,1 kB

Police statistics 1.1.-30.9.2017 asylum seekers pdf, 333,7 kB