From the murder squad to management support

Assistant Police Commissioner Niina Uskali
National Police Board of Finland, Advisory staff, management support

Police work was not my childhood dream. I wanted to be a judge and decided to apply to law school. I didn't get in at the time and started exploring other options. I realised that what interested me about being a judge was justice and how to deliver it. In police work you get to do that too, but at a slightly different level. When a woman I knew applied and got into police school, I realised that this was a possibility for me, too. I applied and got in. Police school immediately felt my thing. 

I spent many years in fieldwork in the Helsinki region, where I come from. I really liked fieldwork and value it very highly. It's very challenging. You need to know a lot of things and never know where you're going to end up. I went from working in the field to working in violent crime investigation, the so-called murder squad, at Helsinki Police Department. Along the way, I had also got into law school and was studying alongside my job. The murder squad was really interesting. I was very interested in investigating and solving serious crimes. It was hard, but meaningful and inspiring work. 

I left violent crime investigation to go to the National Bureau of Investigation, where I worked with international matters, recovering the proceeds of crime from abroad and tracking down hard-to-reach people. That project ended at the same time as I graduated from law school. From the NBI, I went to Espoo District Court to do my on-the-bench training and qualified as a judge. After training on the bench, all doors were open. I was in a fortunate position since I was offered a number of jobs, including within the prosecution service and courts. At the same time, there was a vacancy in the oversight of legality in the Police Department at the Ministry of the Interior and I decided to go for it.

I began in what was then the oversight of legality in the supreme command of the police, where I had to deal with everything between heaven and earth and also got to use my legal skills. I learnt a great deal there. Within a year, the supreme command had become the National Police Board. I worked for several years with the oversight of legality in the National Police Board before I changed positions to become an deputy assistant police commissioner. I was responsible for general legal matters of the police and, for example, legislative matters. I did this for several years. The next step in the National Police Board came when there was a vacancy for a chief of management support position in the Advisory staff.

I got the job as head of management support. This was a continuation of dealing with legal matters. One new thing was to learn in particular about security issues, i.e. organisational security, preparedness and contingency issues, and risk management. A large part of the job entails matters related to civilian crisis management by the police. I’ve now been in the job for more than four years. The job is rewarding, yet challenging. I started my present job at the same time as the corona pandemic started. This was followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These events resulted in preparedness, surveillance and organisational security taking on a whole new role, which involves a lot of management support and preparation of major policies, such as overall architecture and strategy. This means I have seen and experienced a lot.  Management supporting gives you a great vantage point where you not only see a lot, but can also make a difference and promote the interests of the police. 

A career in the police can give you anything, very different tasks. All my jobs have always been very interesting. Whenever I've been asked to do a new job, I've always been a bit sorry to leave the previous one. So there are a lot of options and you can change them during your career. I feel that police work is really meaningful work, which makes you feel good and happy at work.