National Police Day celebrations on Saturday, 10 August
Finland’s traditional Police Day is celebrated again on Saturday, 10 August 2024. The theme for 2024 is Good Net, Bad Net. The theme explores the role of the police in providing reliable identification and warning about online dangers.
Police departments across Finland will be organising events. The locations and dates for the events are available on the official website at poliisi.fi/en/policeday/. The social media tags to follow are #PoliisinPäivä, #PolisensDag and #PoliceDay.
Good Net, Bad Net
Most of the tools used for electronic identification online are based on reliable identification provided by the police. Strong electronic identification methods include banking credentials, mobile ID, and the citizen certificate in national ID cards. Other types of identification are always less reliable. The passports and ID cards issued by the police and Finnish consulates are key for creating electronic identities.
The online world has allowed crimes to take place regardless of physical location: they could happen at home during a video game, for example.
- Artificial intelligence and anonymity have made it easier to commit crimes, which we see in everyday policing as fraudulent transactions, romance scams, identity theft, data breaches, grooming and other sexual offences, and drug deals, for example. In the course of technological development, more tools and instructions have become available on the surface web as well, meaning online criminals may not need much technical skill, says National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen.
Focus on police values
In addition to the theme of Good Net, Bad Net, everyone is invited to the Police Day events to discuss what they value about the Police of Finland.
- Our everyday choices as the police are guided by our organisation’s values. They state how we should approach different matters and people, how we should act in different situations, and how we should appear. This spring, we have started a value review to assess the suitability of our values set in 2017 for the policing of the 2020s, says Kolehmainen.
Police Day events have programming for everyone
The Police Day events are open to the public and suitable for all ages. Police vehicles have always been the big draws at our events. Please check the programme of your local event on the official website at poliisi.fi/en/policeday/.
In its current format, the Police Day has been celebrated since 2009. Thousands have visited the events every year. After two exceptional years, the events returned to normal in 2022. In 2021, the Police Day was cancelled in its entirety due to the Covid situation, and the 2020 Police Day was organised as a virtual event.
The purpose of the Police Day is to promote the local, face-to-face presence of the police force, including interaction with the local residents, to maintain a strong sense of security and trust in the authorities. Seppo Kolehmainen, the National Police Commissioner, will be present and available in the Police Day event held at Tampere in front of the Police Museum.
