Police force’s operating direction changes rapidly

The direction in which the police force’s operating environment has changed and is changing at an ever increasing pace, said National Police Board.

Cyber crime, hybrid threats, terrorism, organised crime, trafficking in human beings, mobile organised property crime and these are examples of the direction in which the police force’s operating environment.

The police have sought to react to this by appointing a project administrator, who recommended 73 measures to enhance crime prevention. These recommendations are included in the final report of the project ‘Report on the crime prevention situation’.

National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen finds the report critical to the development of crime prevention.

“In my opinion, it was crucially important to prepare this report now, because the previous similar report was made 15 years ago and the police force’s operating environment has seen remarkable changes,” said Kolehmainen.

The project administrator was Tero Kurenmaa, Deputy Director of the National Bureau of Investigation. He worked as project administrator, appointed by the National Police Board, from 1 April to 30 September 2018. Later, he was appointed Director of the National Bureau of Investigation.

According to Tero Kurenmaa, the purpose of the report was to form a comprehensive view of the development needs in crime prevention.

The state of crime prevention was investigated by interviewing all parties playing a key role in crime prevention. A total of 120 persons participated in the 28 interviews conducted. In addition, police officers were interviewed.

Crime prevention was last studied in Finland 15 years ago, in a report prepared by the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior (publication 4/2003). The 47 recommendations given were mainly related to property, financial and drug-related crimes.

According to Tero Kurenmaa, the police have been able to assess the different types of crime and challenges reasonably well, but not the extent of the changes or their speed.

“For example, terrorism did not emerge as a challenge for criminal investigation until in the 2010s, when it appeared in the form of terrorist financing, and after then when foreign combatants went abroad from Finland. The first ever incident classified as a terrorist offence in Finland took place in Turku in 2017,” said Kurenmaa.