Page 16 - The police annual report 2016 annual report 2016

LICENCE ADMINISTRATION
AT THE END OF 2016, the authority of the police to decide on matters related to res- idence permits, EU registrations, residence cards, alien's passports and refugee's travel documents was transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service. The police are still responsible for issuing foreign citizen's iden- tity cards, and visa extensions, cancellations and revocations in certain cases.
From the beginning of 2016, responsibility for driving licence matters was transferred from the purview of the police to the Finnish Transport Safety Agency Tra , and responsibility for con- ducting concise security clearances was trans- ferred from the local police to the Finnish Security Intelligence Service.
As a result of these changes, the total number of licence matters processed by the police decreased by around 20 per cent from the previous year, while travel documents have shown growth. The number of passport matters has increased by around eight per cent from 2015 and the number of identity card matters by around nine per cent.
USE OF E-SERVICES EXPANDED
The police continued the development of its existing e-services and expanded the services to cover private security sector affairs, their dupli- cates, and money collection matters.
With the help of marketing, for example, the usage rate of the e-services increased to such
a degree that already 61 per cent of passport applications were submitted electronically. The share of electronic passport applications increased
16 THE POLICE, ANNUAL REPORT 2016