The police have turned back less than one per cent of people inspected at the Uusimaa border

Publication date 7.4.2020 15.31
News item

The restrictions on movement in Uusimaa came into force at midnight on Saturday 28 March 2020. During the first week, the police inspected 247,694 vehicles and train passengers at the Uusimaa border. A total of 2,170 people were turned back – 0.9 per cent of those inspected – and 11 fines were issued for breaches of the Emergency Powers Act.

Adherence to the restrictions on movement has been monitored on major arteries and other large roads as well as rail, air and sea traffic in and out of Uusimaa.

Operations are led by the Helsinki Police Department, which monitors adherence to the restrictions in cooperation with the police departments of Eastern Uusimaa, Western Uusimaa, Häme, Southeastern Finland, Southwestern Finland and Central Finland. Additionally, the police has the official assistance of the Defence Forces and Border Guard.

“The police have now been intensively monitoring adherence to the government’s restrictions on movement in Uusimaa for a week. We have found that most people have taken the restrictions seriously and the amount of traffic has consequently fallen. Monitoring continues, and we ask that everyone be patient and consider whether crossing the Uusimaa border is strictly necessary,” says the operative chief, Police Chief Lasse Aapio of the Helsinki Police Department.

An exceptional operation conducted in solidarity

Even though the monitoring of the Uusimaa border is an exceptionally large and lengthy operation, even for the police, monitoring at checkpoints has been made into a smooth process – though police officers’ work days did initially stretch beyond their intended length.

“These are exceptional circumstances. However, we have been able to employ our personnel at checkpoints in a reasonably flexible manner, and supply lines for the checkpoints have been functioning well. This is an effort shared by the whole of society, and this solidarity has been on display in the field. We are working to maintain efficient planning and foresight so that we can make monitoring at the checkpoints run with everyday ease despite the unusual circumstances,” says Deputy Police Chief Ari Karvonen of the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department.

Collaboration between authorities has been significant in the success of monitoring operations.

“Collaboration with the Defence Forces at checkpoints has gone very well. It is gratifying to see everyone working together with seamless cooperation and steadfast commitment towards a shared goal, even in such an enormous effort. The Defence Forces’ primary tasks have been to do with directing traffic, delivering supplies and performing other support duties. We cannot thank them enough!” says Superintendent Jussi Päivänsalo of the Western Uusimaa Police Department.

Correction: On Saturday 4 April, the Helsinki Police Department published an incorrect figure on the number of inspected vehicles in a Twitter message. During the period of 28 March – 4 April 2020, a total of 241,990 vehicles were inspected on the Uusimaa border. Over the course of the whole week, a total of 247,694 vehicle and train passengers were inspected. We apologise for the error.

Helsinki Police Department News Press releases imported from old site