Serving alcohol to drunks on the rise

More cases of serving alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons and breaches of public order were noted in licensed restaurants than before, said the National Police Board following an enhanced countrywide supervision of licensed restaurants and foreign nationals on September 23 to 29.

“Slightly more cases of serving alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons were observed in licensed restaurants than in the previous year. In contrast, serving alcohol to an underage person was noted only in two places. The number of reports to regional state administrative authorities increased from 10 cases in the previous year to 23 cases,” said Chief Superintendent Ari Järvenpää of the National Police Board.

Breaches of public order were also slightly more frequent than in the previous year. Five foreign nationals working in the country illegally were met during the campaign.

Some police departments carried out the supervision operation in cooperation with alcohol inspectors, rescue services and occupational health and safety inspectors.

The findings were compared to the figures from 2012–2014 and 2016–2018, because enhanced supervision could not be carried out in 2015 due to the asylum-seeking situation.

This year, the supervising officers had to intervene in 26 cases of serving alcoholic beverages to clearly intoxicated persons and two cases of serving alcoholic beverages to an underage person. The number of cases of serving alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons was 15 in 2018 and 20 in 2017.

The number of cases of serving alcoholic beverages to underage persons was two in 2019, one in 2018 and three in 2017.

A total of 16 breaches of public order were noted during the course of the supervision. In most of these cases, a person performing the duties of a security steward did not have a valid security steward card at the workplace. The number of similar offences was nine in 2018 and 15 in 2017.

There were 22 disturbances of public order in or outside licensed restaurants. The corresponding figure last year was 12 and 21 in 2017.

Supervision of foreign nationals targeted 189 restaurants this year. Approximately 400 persons were inspected in connection with the supervision of restaurants, five of whom are suspected of working in Finland without the necessary permit.

“The supervision of foreign nationals involves checking that any foreign nationals subject to control measures satisfy the criteria for remaining and working in Finland; that is, do they have a legal right of residence and employment here,” explained Chief Superintendent Mia Poutanen of the National Police Board.

The supervision of foreign nationals is a statutory duty of the police and is usually carried out as part of other police activities, such as, in this case, the supervision of licensed restaurants.

“Finland is not an attractive country for illegal residents and, consequently, illegal residence in Finland is quite rare,” Poutanen said.