Page 3 - The police annual report 2016 annual report 2016

Seppo Kolehmainen, the National Police Commissioner, has been the head of the police since 2015.
NATIONAL POLICE COMMISSIONER’S REVIEW
The Finnish Police celebrated its 200th anni- versary in 2016. Simultaneously, our security environment has undergone the most radical change it has ever seen during peacetime. Internal and external security have become intertwined, and a clear-cut division between the two no longer exists.
What happens around us also has a ripple effect on Finland's own security situation. Key themes are immigration, border security, cyber security, and combating crime and terrorism. The Police must be able to provide safety
as the rst responder to everyone and at all times.
Despite the challenging situation, the police performed its duties quite well in 2016. The Police responded to more than a million calls. The most urgent of these could be handled as rapidly as one year previously.
800,000 crimes were reported to us, and safety on the streets improved slightly. Fewer work- ing hours were spent in traf c surveillance, but with the help of automatic surveillance, the output volume increased clearly. Almost 1.2 million licences were issued. Six out of
ten passport applications were submitted elec- tronically.
Human resources were around 9,700 per- son-work years, of which the share of police personnel was 7,200. Human resources were reduced by almost two hundred person-work years. In the next couple of years, fewer new police of cers will graduate than the number estimated to retire. The number of starting places cannot be increased, because based on the decisions currently in effect, the number of police of cers should further decrease by 850 person-work years by the year 2020.
The situation forces us to make choices. The resources must be focused where they can
be used to achieve the highest impact. In our strategy, we emphasise the duties the citizens consider to be the most important. We wish to ensure safety, prevent crime, produce services ef ciently and maintain the public’s trust.
The duties and structures of the Police have been further speci ed. Asylum investigation became the purview of the Finnish Immi- gration Service, and driving licence matters the purview of the Finnish Transport Safety Agency Tra . The Finnish Security Intelligence Service was separated into an agency under the Ministry of the Interior, and it assumed responsibility of all security clearances. Police Materials, Information Technology and Infor- mation Services Centres were established in the National Police Board.
Relative to its population, Finland has the smallest police force in Europe, yet it produc- es excellent results by a European standard.
Success requires solid professional skills and world record class trust. 96 per cent of Finnish people trust the Finnish police.
The exceptional sentences imposed on the former head of the drug squad of the Helsinki Police Department have certainly done a lot
to challenge that trust I can guarantee that
we have aimed to do everything possible to prevent such serious crimes from ever taking place again. On the other hand, their discovery shows that you cannot escape the long arm
of the law – and that there is someone who watches the watchmen.
On my own behalf, I wish that society would provide the police with suf cient resources to handle our statutory duties in this changed operational environment. Ultimately, this is the key factor in our ability to provide security and safety through all times.
Seppo Kolehmainen
National Police Commissioner
THE POLICE, ANNUAL REPORT 2016 3