During the weekend of 27–29 September 2024, the police inspected licensed premises across Finland. More than 200 restaurants were inspected. As part of the supervision of restaurant operations, the police also carried out the monitoring of foreign nationals.
The control operation was carried out in cooperation with alcohol inspectors, rescue services and occupational health and safety inspectors.
Serving alcohol to intoxicated persons and minors, exceeding the number of customers in licensed premises, public order on licensed premises and the impacts of operations in front and in the immediate vicinity of the licensed premises were particular aspects of the control operation. Special attention was paid to the arrangement of public order and an adequate number of security stewards.
The monitoring of foreign nationals sought to reach foreigners residing and working illegally in Finland and to intervene in the activities of employers who use unauthorised foreign labour and fail to respect labour law regulations and agreements.
Twenty-two breaches of public order on licensed premises were found. Most (18) of the incidents involved persons performing security steward duties not having their valid security steward card with them at the workplace. However, this can be considered a low number and similar to previous years.
Fewer violations detected than earlier
The police had to intervene only twice in the serving of alcohol to intoxicated persons and there were no incidents of alcohol being served to minors. A total of 19 various shortcomings and breachers were reported to Regional State Administrative Agencies in conjunction with the operation. This is half the number of reports filed in 2023. However, it’s not all good news, as four restaurants were found to have staff licenced to serve alcohol intoxicated at work, and in one case, the restaurant had to be closed by decision of the police.
The monitoring of foreign nationals caught a total of five foreigners working without the required work permit but the number of shortcomings detected was half compared to the previous years and numbers were low.
Nationwide, even according to the number of customers in restaurants and feedback from restaurant employees, the weekend seemed very quiet. This can be assumed to have also reflected in the results of the police control operation. Overall, the number of violations detected was low.
