Mental health crises encountered increasingly in the everyday work of the police

The police encounter every day situations where citizens need help due to their mental health problems. This can be seen in all areas of policing, especially in law enforcement and response assignments.

According to police statistics, there were 11,619 suicide attempts or threats of suicide in 2015, 14,933 in 2020 and 18,443 in 2024. It is noteworthy that, according to the assessment of the police, the persons involved in these assignments have been under the influence of intoxicants in more than half of the cases. The increase in assignments related to suicide and the threat of suicide also applies to young people, and anxiety among young people seems to have increased overall.

One of the tasks of the police is to ensure traffic safety and intervene in dangerous traffic behaviour. The police encounter people with mental health problems in traffic on a daily basis. Mental health disorders can affect a person’s ability to assess their own functional capacity and make safe decisions in traffic. Issues such as depression, anxiety or psychotic disorders can impair perception ability and slow down reactions to traffic situations, which increases the risk of accidents.

“We monitor driving health as part of normal traffic surveillance. If you suspect that a person’s ability to drive has diminished due to mental health reasons or some other reason, you should report it to the police,” says Assistant Police Commissioner Pasi Rissanen of Road Safety and Traffic Control of the National Police Board.

The police handle permit matters in many different areas, such as in the granting of firearms permits and driving licences, and the police supervise the fulfilment of the relevant conditions. Mental health problems can have a significant impact on the granting and validity of these permits, especially when a person’s mental health affects their ability to take care of their own safety and the safety of others.

Change in society challenges people

Changes in society, such as economic crises, unemployment and uncertainty, have a significant impact on the mental well-being of citizens. The police have observed that young people in particular are experiencing more and more anxiety and uncertainty. In the online environment, children and adolescents are exposed to a wide range of psychologically stressful material. The use of social media has been found to be associated with increased anxiety and depression among adolescents. In the most serious cases, children and young people may end up as part of networks such as The Com, which the police recently discussed in a blog. The police are concerned about this trend and consider that there is a need to focus preventive work especially on young people. 

“At the police, we have working methods for preventive work with young people. These include school policing and multi-professional Anchor work,” says National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki. 

Co-operation between authorities in police assignments related to mental health problems

The police work closely with other authorities, such as health care and social services, to deal with mental health problems. The challenges to have access to proper treatment appear in police duties in cases such as ones involving mental health problems and the threat of violence. The police hope that in the future, access to psychiatric care will become easier and that the number of psychiatric hospital beds will be increased. This would be of help in multi-professional efforts to prevent violent crimes.