What factors undermine citizens’ strong trust in the Finnish police? Why do Finns have such a high level of trust in the police? These themes are discussed in the second part of the publication “The Police and the Public”.
The second part of the publication The Police and the Public provides new research findings of the mutual relationship between the police and citizens in Finland. The publication consists of three articles, all of which examine citizens’ distrust of the police. The research articles are based on data from the 2022 Police Barometer survey.
“The essence of trust becomes apparent gradually when the distrust expressed towards the police is analysed,” say the authors of the study, Researchers Matti Vuorensyrjä and Jenita Rauta from the Police University College.
Experiences of injustice are reflected in trust
The publication discusses topics such as why victims of sexual or violent crimes experience a deeper than usual distrust of the police.
The data of the Police Barometer survey show that many of those who have been victims of sexual offences have felt that the actions by the police and the criminal process in general are unfair. According to the victims’ experiences, they have not been properly heard or believed, they have not been treated with respect, or the questions made by the police have made the victim feel guilty.
Victims of violent crimes, on the other hand, often have the experience that they have not received the kind of help they needed from the police. According to the victims, the actions by the police have not been effective: the case may not have been processed all, or it may not have made progress or may not have been solved.
“Only 1 to 2 per cent of all respondents to the open-ended question referred to a victim’s experience of a violent or sexual crime, but their experiences were of great importance. They significantly reduced trust in the police,” Matti Vuorensyrjä and Jenita Rauta sum up.
Why did the Aarnio case not significantly undermine trust in the police?
The publication also asks why citizens’ trust in the actions of the police did not suffer as a result of the so-called Aarnio case. Jari Aarnio, the former head of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Helsinki Police Department, was sentenced to a long prison sentence for several aggravated narcotics offences, among other things.
According to many respondents, there is only little corruption in Finland in general – and particularly little in the police. The respondents had come to this conclusion based on their own experience as well as publicity and comparative research data. Even though the respondents felt that the Aarnio case was serious and reprehensible, it was probably only an isolated case in their opinion.
The core of trust in the police consists of many factors
The key factor in the trust felt towards the police is citizens’ perception that the police are impartial, treat everyone equally and encounter citizens and customers with respect in everyday interaction situations. The findings are similar both in international research literature and in research concerning Finland.
“In our further research, we intend to focus on such factors that explain trust which are not related to everyday encounters between the police and citizens. These so-called macro-level factors explain issues such as why citizens’ trust in the police varies so much in different countries. Micro-level factors, such as interaction situations, do not explain the differences as a whole,” Matti Vuorensyrjä and Jenita Rauta state.
The data for the Police Barometer survey 2022 were collected between October and December 2022. Of the 8,500 people in the sample, 4,044 people (47.6 per cent) responded to the survey. The Police Barometer is a series of surveys, where the first survey was conducted in 1999.
