Students Jesse Sironen, Venla Rinne and Henriikka Nieminen worked as university trainees in communications in different parts of the police organisation. In this blog post, they describe what their internship entailed.

From strategic planning to social media posts

Who: Jesse Sironen
Studies: Second year in the Master’s programme in communication studies at Tampere University 
Internship: In the National Police Board’s communications from May to October 2025

“You can be a free radical.” This is the description that my supervisor used at the beginning of my internship when we talked about what kind of tasks each person is responsible for in the communications function of the National Police Board, and the discussion ended up with the tasks that were intended for me. 

Now, towards the end of my internship, I can say that that description was quite accurate, because during the past six months I have been able to participate in many kinds of tasks. I have become familiar with the development of the digital customer service of the police, organising media events as well as formulating and implementing press releases and social media posts. 

In addition, I have had the opportunity to co-ordinate various internal networks and working groups of the police. The network of university trainees in all police communications (viesko network) deserves to be mentioned in particular here. With this network, we were able to visit the police command centre in Helsinki, and we organised interesting guest lectures in which various authorities and a representative of journalistic media presented their own communications or some related phenomenon. We were given a completely free hand to plan and implement these lectures, and the end result was also commended by participants outside the network. 

The best things about my internship were that I had the opportunity to be very extensively involved in the communications of the police at large and I was also given a suitable amount of responsibility right from the beginning. I also felt that the police wanted to hear my opinions and views on various issues and that the views were also well taken into account. Moreover, I consider that the operating environment of police communications is very interesting, and this allowed me to work with tasks such as making advance preparations for communications as well as operational communication. There are not many places where trainees get to be involved in such areas of communication.

I can warmly recommend everyone to make an application for a university internship at the National Police Board. The National Police Board has university trainees from several fields in various positions, so there are great many opportunities. Vacancies available at the police can be found on the valtiolle.fi website.

Communication as a vantage point to the police organisation

Who: Venla Rinne
Studies: Last phases in Master’s studies in communication at the University of Jyväskylä
Internship: In the communications function of the Eastern Finland Police Department from June to September 2025

Many people say that an internship often shows you clearly, one way or another, what you want to do in the world of work in the future. In my case, I realised during my internship in police communications that I do not think I want to be a communicator but a police officer. Or you never know, it may turn out so well that at some point in my career I may have both degrees and the road would lead me to become a communicator in the position of a police officer. That would allow me to combine many things that feel like my own, things that I already saw during this internship to be both versatile and interesting. 

I have been involved in many things during my internship, from the back seat of a police car to a police boat and from communicating about different phenomena to the event communications of the Police Day. The communications of the Police Department include a wide range of tasks at the levels of work community communication, civic communication and stakeholder communication. I have been able to do most of these myself and to follow these issues in the daily work of the top professionals of our team. During the summer, my own to-do list covered things like making videos, which gave me the opportunity to familiarise myself with police operations on a very practical level. I have become familiar with different sectors, units and job descriptions when I have been able to record video of the employees of the police organisation working in different positions. 

Communication has been an excellent vantage point over the entire organisation. This is the place where you can really work together with anyone, because our tasks come from all parts of the police organisation. I have been able to do highly varied tasks here, but at times I would have liked to get an even more hands-on approach and better understand the perspectives related to police work. Of course, good communicators need to be able to convey professionally matters that they do not necessarily know much about in advance, but I still feel that police communications also need an understanding of what really happens in everyday life and on police assignments out there and what are all the things that should be taken into account when communicating about it, both within the organisation and externally. That is where the idea of the Police University College originally came from. In the summer it was still more of a joke, but towards the end of my internship it was no longer just a funny idea when I realised that I must be quite serious about that plan. Now it seems that when I close the work computer, I will open the admission exam book and add bench presses to my training programme. 

The biggest downside of the internship has been the too short time that I was able to spend here in the communications office, and the mandatory days off – towards the end of my internship I tried to justify why it would be quite okay for me to come to work even when I was supposed to have a day off, but I didn't quite get this message through. Being a little jealous of my fellow trainees at the end of my internship and while they are still continuing to work, I have said many times that I would have enjoyed working in this job for longer. Maybe one day I will find myself on the payroll of the police. It remains to be seen what position I will be in.

Diverse and educational months as a communications trainee in the police

Who: Henriikka Nieminen    
Studies: Last year of media studies at the University of Tampere
Internship: In the communications function of the Central Finland Police Department from April to October

My long-awaited first job in my own field of study was finally reality when I found out in the winter that I had been accepted as a communications trainee at the Central Finland Police Department. I had been thinking for a long time that I would be interested in doing communications within an authority, so this internship was especially pleasant for me. What I expected most from my internship were interesting and versatile work tasks and that I would be able to develop as a communicator as much as possible. Now, at the end of my internship, I can say that these expectations were indeed fulfilled.

My most typical tasks have been writing press releases, doing communications within the workplace community and creating content for the police department’s social media channels. In addition to this, during the internship I also got to participate in the Police Day event and its arrangements, helped organise two press conferences and participated in police communications for the Finnish round of the World Rally Championship.

One of the best things about the internship were the many things I got to do, see and experience during it. As early as on my first days at work, I was told that during the internship I would be able to do all the same things that even the permanent communicators of the police department do. This came true, and through it I have gained a lot of valuable experience in terms of issues such as my future work. The attitude towards me here has been that they have wanted to show and teach me as much as possible during the internship, which has been great. I have been given responsibility, but I have also always received help if I have needed help. During the internship, I have gained a lot more confidence in what I do.

While working in police communications, I have also learned a lot about the entire police organisation. As a communications worker, you get to deal with many different things related to police operations and people working with different tasks. This has broadened my view of the entire organisation.

I can warmly recommend a university internship in police communications. Here you can challenge yourself and be involved in diverse and socially significant communication.