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Preventative work at the Helsinki Police Department hero

Preventative work at the Helsinki Police Department

The main goal of preventative work is to improve safety and the sense of security. 

We solve problems in troubled regions and help young people and concerning people find help, preventing future crime. The people we face might be potential victims or offenders. We work together with other authorities, organisations, communities, families and the private sector. 

We strengthen the trust young people, minorities and different societal groups have towards the police. We meet people who represent political extremes, language and culture groups and the underworld. We dissolve conflicts and the threat of violence with open conversation. 

The preventative police forces are active in social media channels, which improves the trust and communications towards the police, particularly among young people. Our aim is to help people engage with the society.  

Preventative work has significantly reduced young people’s violence, violent extremism and honour-related violence. Action focused on disturbances has also had positive results. 

Forms of preventative work in Helsinki

  • Anchor work reduces the amount of youth crime. We talk with the young person and their family. The anchor team assesses and solves the whole family’s problems. In addition to police officers, the anchor team consists of a senior social worker, two social workers and a psychiatric nurse. The police, schools and concerned family members and friends can inform the anchor team of the young people needing help.
  • Regional safety issues can be solved by activating the cooperation of authorities, organisations and private sector actors. Police work emphasises the long-term impact of measures. For example, disturbances in areas where young people live have been solved by talking with the young person and their guardians as well as by approaching the young people together with other authorities and organisations. 
  • Threatening persons and violent extremism are of interest to police officers who will contact the threatening people and assess their situation and what measures are needed. The police improve communal involvement as well as the community’s ability to ensure an individual’s and the whole community’s safety. As part of the work, the police also open dialogue with different extremist groups. 

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Information about the Helsinki Police Department in different languages

At the end of 2020, 164 different nationalities were represented in the population of Helsinki. Already, more than one hundred thousand Helsinki residents (16.9%) speak a native language other than the domestic languages in Finland. The most common native languages spoken in Helsinki are Russian (2.9%), Somali (1.8%), Estonian (1.6%), Arabic (1.3%) and English (1.1%).

The number of foreign-language speakers in the population of Helsinki is projected to nearly double by 2035. By then, the number of foreign-language speakers in Helsinki will have reached almost 200,000, or 26 per cent of the entire city’s population. 

Helsinki Police Department services

Helsinki Police Department services

We ensure that our capital city is safe and pleasant for everyone together with the City of Helsinki, other authorities, communities and the residents.

The Helsinki police station is in Pasila. You can report an offence or apply for a passport, identification card and other licences with us. 

You can visit us even if you do not speak Finnish, Swedish or English. With the help of interpreters, you can talk to us in any language you want. However, you should reserve some time for the services, or bring someone who speaks Finnish with you.

When should I call the emergency number 112 and what should I report as an offence?

When should I call the emergency number 112?

Call the emergency number 112 when you urgently need emergency care, police, rescue services or a social welfare authority to visit you on site. Examples of these situations:

  • Shooting, stabbing or other violence at home or a public place.
  • Robbery in which the offender takes your possessions either with violence or by threatening you with violence.
  • Domestic abuse, such as hitting a child, mother, father or other family member. 
  • Rape of an adult, sexual abuse of a young person or child. 

What should I report as an offence?

The police report is a report of a potential offence submitted to the police. Anyone can file in a police report. In some cases, the police will submit it, if a police patrol was present on the scene. Examples of offences:

  • Väkivallanteko kotona tai yleisellä paikalla.
  • Violence at home or a public place.
  • Rape of an adult, sexual abuse of a young person or child. In principle, any sexual act towards a child under the age of 16 years is considered an offense.
  •  Offense against property, such as bicycle theft. 
  • Honour-related violence is a form of violence that results from breaking a community’s norms or individual rules, for example. In these cases, the motive for violence is to clean and restore the tarnished honour.
  • In human trafficking, the offender attempts to gain financial benefits by controlling their victim in various ways. Victims of human trafficking are often dependant on the offender. They might have been repressed and subjected to sexual abuse or forced labour.
  • Hate crime and speech includes all forms of expression that spread, incite, promote or justify ethnic hate, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other hate that is based on intolerance.

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