Notice of apprehension and custody for security stewards

Security Sector Supervision has prepared a notice of apprehension and custody as per the Private Security Services Act, and this notice should be used to record any cases of apprehension and custody. This is done to ensure the consistency of operations. 

When sufficient information is filled in, the forms improve the legal protection of both the security steward(s) and the person taken into custody. 

Fill in a notice of apprehension and custody for each individual who was apprehended, sign the notice and submit it to the police department as soon as possible after the event is over or the vessel has arrived at the port.

Details are important when you fill a notice of apprehension and custody

You must pay attention to recording information on the apprehension form in particular.

Recording the facts of each individual case of apprehension in and taking into custody in as much detail as possible is important, particularly if the procedure itself and the grounds for it are reviewed later for some reason.

Being placed in custody is a form of a loss of liberty, which means a breach of the individual’s basic rights. The law enforcement authority has, in several cases, taken note of incompletely recorded details.

Legislation on the right to apprehension and custody of security stewards

The circumstances in which a security steward is allowed to apprehend a person and take them into custody and how they are to be treated while in custody are laid down in the law.

Security stewards may remove from their duty area an individual who:

• is intoxicated state and disturbs public order or other persons
• endangers safety
• behaves in a threatening way, disturbs by making loud noise, acts aggressively or in some other manner so that they are a threat to order and security
• enters an area closed from the public without a permission.

If removing the person from the area is not a sufficient means or it is impossible to eliminate the disturbance or risk in any other way, the security steward is allowed to apprehend the person. The apprehension must be absolutely necessary to prevent serious threat to other persons or property.

The apprehended individual must be surrendered to police custody immediately. Apprehensions can take place at public events, but security stewards are not allowed to carry out apprehensions in public assemblies (applies usually to demonstrations).

Custody of the apprehended person

In some cases, it is required that the apprehended person is kept in custody if they cannot be surrendered to the police immediately. Depending on the scale and place of the event, it is sometimes reasonable to have the resources for keeping apprehended persons in custody. In such cases, the police can authorise a security steward at a public event to place apprehended persons in custody. A captain of a vessel may also authorise a security steward appointed to a vessel to place a person in custody.

A person may be held in custody for up to four hours or until the reason for the apprehension has ceased to exist. A person apprehended at a public event may be held in custody until the event ends and the public has left the venue. A person apprehended at a vessel may be held in custody until the vessel arrives at the next port.

It is only permissible to place an apprehended person in custody in a facility managed by a security steward and inspected and approved by the police before its use.

Links and forms

Private Security Services Act 1085/2015 on Finlex

Apprehension and custody form (in Finnish)

Should you have any feedback concerning the form, please send it by e-mail to the address tavy@poliisi.fi