Sexual abuse victims see police actions unfair: survey

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 Police Barometer survey published on Thursday.

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, said an official press release referring to the second part of the publication entitled “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,” said the authors of the study, Researchers Matti Vuorensyrjä and Jenita Rauta of the Police University College.

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 survey results.

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,” Vuorensyrjä and Rauta added.

The publication also asked why citizens’ trust in the actions of the police did not suffer as a result of the Jari 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 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.

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.