The demands of police work have been fundamentally impacted by the combination of an evolving operating environment and continuous staff reductions over the past decade.
“People expect our services to be quickly available while crimes are prevented and investigated efficiently. However, the statistics show that our services have deteriorated as a whole. Response times and criminal investigation times have increased.”
This was the message of National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen in his speech delivered at the swearing-in ceremony of new police officers at the Police University College in Tampere on 22 November 2019.
Nationwide maximum response times
The police receive more than one million emergency assignments each year, and roughly 70,000 of these are urgent. The average response time in urban municipalities is ten minutes, while in densely populated municipalities it is 20 and in rural municipalities nearly 30 minutes.
“The differences grow even more when you look at the statistics in detail. In Helsinki last year, a patrol was on the scene in five minutes. In Savukoski, you had to wait well over an hour for help to come”, Kolehmainen said.
There are major regional differences also in the number of assignments.
“There were more than 9,000 urgent calls in Helsinki last year, and four in Savukoski. Such statistics are completely irrelevant from the individual customer’s point of view, however. When you need help, getting it in time is all that matters”, Kolehmainen continued.
The Government Programme calls for specifying maximum response times for the police everywhere in Finland. According to Kolehmainen, the police will institute a working group to draw up proposals for decision-makers on response time targets and resources.
Online shaming erodes reserves
According to the Employee barometer, police officers feel that their work is meaningful and want to perform their duties well. At the local level, the workplace atmosphere is good. In his speech, National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen drew attention to online shaming, which erodes well-being at work and coping with one’s duties. Measures have already been taken to rectify the situation.
“Together with the Office of the Prosecutor General and district court chief judges, we have drawn up a bill for legislation to protect authorities from inappropriate attempts to influence them. This does not mean that the police will cover their faces on patrol.”
140 fresh officers sworn in
Approximately 140 police officers, most of them this year’s graduates, swore their ethical oaths in today’s swearing-in ceremony. A part of the graduates had completed their training in Swedish, so the oath was also given in Finland’s second official language.
The purpose of the ethical oath is to further enhance police officers’ understanding of the values and code of conduct expected of the police in Finland. The oath is not legally binding, but seeks to emphasise the responsibility inherent in police work. In the ethical oath, officers swear to respect the human dignity and human rights of every individual and to behave in an honest and helpful manner.
The whole speech is available on the police website at https://www.poliisi.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/intermin/embeds/poliisiwwwstructure/85932_191122_Poliisien_valajuhlapuhe_fin_ja_sv_PYJ.pdf?b268dfbd406fd788 (The speech is provided only in Finnish)
