Following in father’s footsteps
Chief Superintendent Elina Katajamäki
National Police Board, Advisory Staff
I was never meant to be a police officer. As a child, I remember moaning about how my father, who worked as a police officer, always took the car to work at weekends so that the rest of the family could not go to visit my grandparents or to the public pool. Even after the army, I swore that I would do anything but join the police. So, I ended up at the University of Tampere, and somewhat by chance, I started working as a journalist.
I spent three years working as an editor on the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s legendary Police TV show. I met dozens of police officers on the show, and I can honestly admit that I became jealous of them. I could see the similarities between the two careers – police and journalist –, but I felt that my personal ethics were more aligned with those of police work. Therefore, I went to study for the then basic police degree.
Some years ago, I earned my Master of Police Services degree, and currently, I am studying for a Master's degree in Administrative Science. Studying later in life is great. Everything that the lecturers say finds a connection with something in your brain that you already know.
More by chance than by design, I have ended up in a variety of jobs in the police – my employment history is an excellent example of how varied police work can be. I have worked as Chief of Communications at Lapland Police Department and worked on tasks related to internal security as well as foresight and hybrid analysis at the Ministry of the Interior. At the National Police Board, I have been responsible for, among other things, the development of the police’s operational communications and different tasks related to preparedness. International cooperation in my field of work is also mind-opening.
During my Master of Police Services degree, I worked for a while as the head of investigation in operational criminal investigation, and I really enjoyed working as a superior, working with the prosecutor as well as talking to clients. That could be because I like people and interacting with people in general. The job of a police officer is, above all, a demanding profession of interaction.
