Theme of Police Day: Encounters in schools and streets

The traditional nation-wide Police Day will be celebrated in Finland on Saturday 30 August 2025. This year’s theme is “Encounters in schools and streets”. The theme is intended to remind everyone that you can always come and talk to the police and that the police are present wherever people are: in schools, in the streets and online.

Police departments organise events throughout Finland on the Police Day. The events of the Police Day are open to everyone and suitable for people of all ages. Long-time favourites of the event include police vehicles. The locations and times of the events have been compiled on the police website at  https://poliisi.fi/en/policeday. On social media, the events can be found with hashtags #PoliisinPäivä, #PolisensDag and #PoliceDay.

Encounters in schools

This year, the Finnish police have adopted a nation-wide operating model for co-operation with schools. The purpose of the model is to increase the presence of the police in schools. The model consists of three parts: online lessons, solving of problems, and outreach.

“The work done to increase presence has started off very well in the area of every police department, and we have been able to meet and discuss with young people and children as well as early childhood education professionals. We have also increased co-operation with schools in problem-solving cases and we have reached a large number of pupils and students through online lessons,” says Deputy National Police Commissioner Sanna Heikinheimo and continues:

“It is important to hear how young people and children and their parents are doing, and that is why this theme was also a natural choice for the Police Day. We want to send a message that you can always come and talk to the police.”

The prelude to the Police Day is celebrated throughout the last week of August

In addition to traditional public events, the theme “Encounters in schools and streets” can be seen and heard this year on the social media channels of the police throughout the Police Day week from 25 to 29 August 2025. 

“The social media channels of the police units will feature material aimed especially at young people during the week in question. In addition, the prelude to the Police Day will be visible in school areas where police patrols are present. This is a good opportunity to come and talk with the police,” says Senior Communications Advisor Ansa Jokiranta of the National Police Board.

Police Day promotes safety and trust in the authorities

The Police Day has been organised in its current form since 2009. Thousands of people have participated in the events every year. After a couple of extraordinary years, the day was celebrated normally in 2022. In 2021, the Police Day was cancelled completely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and in 2020 it was arranged as a virtual event.

The goal of the Police Day events is to promote the local, face-to-face visibility and interaction of the police with the local residents of the area, and thus support a strong sense of security and trust in the efforts of the authorities. You can meet National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki in this year’s event at the Market Square in Turku.