Advocate of preventative policing

Detective Chief Inspector Minna Väistö
Eastern Finland Police Department, senior officer responsible for preventative policing

I'm Minna Väistö, a 43-year-old native of North Karelia. I’ve been the senior officer responsible for preventative policing at Eastern Finland Police Department since April 2024. Preventative policing has always been close to my heart, mainly in police duties, because it is socially meaningful and diverse.

I earlier worked as preventative policing group leader in North Karelia, which meant focusing on practical preventative policing work and its management in field command. Being appointed to my current position is one of the highlights of my career, because in my current role, I can make an even better impact on overall preventative policing now and in the future.

My police career began in 2013 when I graduated and was given my first post in North Karelia in financial crime investigation. Since then, I have worked in many different positions, including as a police officer and deputy director conducting pre-processing in 2015-2020 and as leader of the North Karelia preventative policing group since 2020. 

I graduated in 2005 with a Master of Administrative Sciences. My major was administrative law. Before embarking on my career as a police officer, I worked, among other things, as a senior officer at the Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI), where my work included legal duties and supervision of authorities and customers. However, I wanted to switch to duties where I could have an even broader impact on people's everyday safety and security, and see the results of my work more concretely.

In my current role as senior officer responsible for preventative policing, I lead, guide, develop and supervise a special preventative operation. This means, among other things, cooperation related to the prevention of crime and disturbances both within the police organisation itself and with various partners. I also act as the administrative and operational supervisor of the preventative policing groups and as the head of investigation.

My normal working day consists of many different duties. I spend a lot of time in meetings, lead investigations and monitor to ensure that the groups are meeting performance targets. One of my key supervisory tasks over the past six months has been the overall coordination of the School25 project in Eastern Finland. I think that we have already done the right things in school cooperation in Eastern Finland, so it has been a pleasure to introduce our good practices into nationwide activities in this respect. 

Now that we can take preventive action forward, I feel a great sense of achievement. It often takes the form of small improvements, for example when we improve our operating methods or boost cooperation with police staff or partners. 

There are also big ambitions. The National Police Board's requirement to include preventative policing more strongly in all policing is a major objective. Planning the implementation with different sectors is one of my key tasks, the results of which, before long, should be visible in the police department's operations.