Page 8 - The police annual report 2016 annual report 2016

8 THE POLICE, ANNUAL REPORT 2016
Police resources have been allocated to re- moval operations in order to secure effective removals from the country.
The increase in the number of asylum seekers and the resulting phenomena were key reasons for the establishment of the so-called TUPA function at the National Bureau of Inves- tigation. It began operations on 1 May 2016 with the purpose of ensuring information exchange between the police and the Finnish Immigration Service related to the possible threats to internal security caused by asylum seekers and the maintenance of situational awareness of, for example, the situation with asylum seekers and related phenomena.
The number of cases involving the organisa- tion of illegal immigration remain at the 2015 level. In 2016, a total of 222 investigations of cases involving the organisation of illegal im- migration or its aggravated form, were started. The number remains signi cantly higher than prior to 2015.
The number of offences involving aliens decreased somewhat. In 2015, the police uncovered 1,288 offences involving aliens, and 976 in 2016. A typical group among persons suspected of violations of the Aliens Act com- prises EU citizens who are illegally resident in the country after being prohibited entry into Finland due to crimes they have previously committed here, but do not comply with the prohibition. In 2016, the number of illegal aliens caught in Finland was lower than in many previous years.
THE POLICE SUCCEEDED IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF REMOVAL DECISIONS
In 2016, the police participated in the en- forcement of a total of over 6,600 decisions on removal from the country, when the corre- sponding gure in 2015 was 3,180. For several years, the removal operations of the police have been at an excellent level compared to the rest of the Europe. Finland has been able to remove around 60 to 70 per cent of persons for whom a decision on removal from the country was made, while the corresponding gure in Europe has been 40 per cent on the
average. In 2016, the police returned persons, for whom a decision on removal from the country was made, to over one hundred differ- ent countries in total.
The charter ights for voluntarily returning persons negotiated and arranged by the police with Iraq are a good example of the successful return activities. In 2016, the police returned around 1,400 Iraqi nationals to Iraq on 17 national charter ights. During the year, the police organised or participated in joint return ights organised by Frontex a total of 30 times. However, the majority of the returns are still implemented on regular, scheduled ights.
In its return operations, the police aim to direct the persons for whom a decision on removal from the country has been made to the as- sisted voluntary return programme whenever possible. This allows the police to target its resources to escorted and supervised returns of challenging returnees.
The network of commanding of cers and oth- er of cers providing training in the prevention of illegal immigration and human traf cking in addition to their regular duties has contin- ued its operations under the leadership of the National Police Board.
Commissioned by the ministerial work-
ing group on migration, an action plan for the prevention of illegal immigration and residence 2017–2020 was prepared under the leadership of the National Police Board. Its realisation is supervised and reported to the ministerial working group by the Work- ing group on combating illegal immigration working under the leadership of the National Police Board.
The National Police Board has also participated in the operations of the Government network against human traf cking, and police repre- sentatives are involved in the multiprofes- sional assistance group for victims of human traf cking. n