The police force's report in the closed Facebook group is ready: Police units have issued a serious written admonition to one party, and supervisory guidance to five others

One police officer has been issued with a serious written admonition for inappropriate conduct in an unofficial, closed Facebook group involving members of the police force. In addition, five public servants in the service of the police have been issued with supervisory guidance.

This is the result of an investigation by the National Police Board, which began due to articles published on the Internet publication, Long Play, last summer. According to the articles, the group engaged in an inappropriate and racist discussion, in which public servants in the service of the police also participated.

The police units identified 50 public servants working for the police from the material made available to them. Identification was made more challenging by the fact that, in the screenshots, some of the inappropriate comments where masked in a way that prevented the identification of those behind them.

The police units did not view all of the written comments by the aforementioned 50 police officers as inappropriate, but some could be regarded as covered by public servants’ freedom of expression, even when worthy of criticism.

Office of the Prosecutor General states that there are no grounds to suspect a crime

Following the publication of the articles, the National Police Board submitted a request for investigation to the Office of the Prosecutor General, enquiring whether there were grounds for suspecting that public servants employed by the police had committed offences in relation to the inappropriate discussions.

The Office of the Prosecutor General concluded that were no grounds for suspecting that an offence have been committed, but left a more detailed investigation and possible disciplinary action to the National Police Board. Following this, the National Police Board began an administrative investigation of the matter. A large number of screenshots of the group discussions served as the basis of the investigation.

Because disciplinary action is always carried out in the police unit to which the public servant in question belongs, the National Police Board assigned the task of going through the material related to the group’s discussions to the legal units of the various police departments. The police units were to identify the public servants involved and engage in the required measures if racist or other inappropriate comments were discovered in the written material.

Although the Facebook group in question is not an official police group, the obligation to observe the rules of good conduct still applies

The group in question is not a group run by the police and is in no way official, but was established for private use. The group included several public servants employed by the police, as well as other people.

The police are subject to special obligations regarding their conduct, pursuant to the Police Administration Act, which also apply to their free time. Members of the police force must act in such a manner that they do not jeopardise the public’s trust in the police’s appropriate handling of its duties. This applies to all conduct – including conversations held as private persons on the social media.

Public servants can engage in public debates and present opinions in their free time. However, this right is restricted by the obligation of police officers to observe the rules of good conduct – the freedom of speech of the police is more limited than that of ordinary citizens and many other public servants.

Corrective measures have been initiated and will continue

The National Police Board condemns all forms of racism and discrimination, and does not tolerate any type of such behaviour in police personnel. The case is being taken seriously and has led to several development measures.

•A new equality and diversity plan for the police was approved on 26 June 2017

•The guidelines on police activity on the social media have been updated

•Since 1 December 2017, the police have also adopted a so-called ethical channel, which enables anonymous whistle blowing on unethical behaviour for the police force's own staff

•Mandatory social media training for all police personnel is under preparation, which will draw particular attention to the obligation of the police to observe the rules of good conduct

•The values of the police have been included as part of the development discussions of all police employees up to 2018

•The case has been considered by the police's national management group – all police units have been instructed to intervene on a zero-tolerance basis in cases of racism, discrimination, or other inappropriate behaviour.

The National Police Board will closely monitor the need for further follow-up measures.

Report POL-2017-13944 of the National Police Board is a public document and can be ordered from the registry of the National Police Board (in Finnish only)