Police|In its additional autumn budget, the government allocated five million euros to combat youth and street crime. Some of it is going to be used to hire personnel, says Koskimäki.
Anyone can’t see into the future, but if he could, with a new police chief Ilkka in Koskimäki would be questionable. According to him, the police has succeeded in many things in recent years, but at the same time the pace of social changes has accelerated.
“The police must have the ability to respond to changes in the operating environment. They have been fast in recent years, and it may be that they will be even faster in the future,” Koskimäki tells STT.
At the beginning of September, Koskimäki moved from the management of the Itä-Uusimaa police to the police chief. He applied to the police school due to a whim he got in the army. Four service colleagues applied at the same time, and all are still police officers. Koskimäki’s police career began in 1991 in Helsinki, where he worked in various positions and progressed first to head of investigations and later to deputy police chief. He served as Häme police chief in 2017–2020.
Over 30 years of police career has seen many things. Koskimäki recounts the big changes that have happened in his career: the concentration of the population increasingly in cities, the digitization of society, Finland joining the Schengen area, immigration, the increase in the supply and use of drugs, and terrorism.
“Most recently, the war of aggression started by Russia in Ukraine, which has caused enormous changes in our preparedness and will certainly cause more.”
The new position at the top of the civil service is not dizzying. Koskimäki says that he approaches the task with a humble mind and with the attitude that he is there for others, in a service role.
“Go over and we’ll see together how the matter is handled. The guide line is actually sealed in there. Nothing more than that.”
One one of the changes that will probably affect society for a long time to come is the increase in violent crime among young people. In this area, according to Koskimäki, in the future there will be more and more cross-border cooperation between police departments. And strive to ensure that when the suspect of a crime is a child or young person, intervention and investigations are handled quickly.
“Investigation times are still too long, but improvements have been made all the time. In the case of young people, we aim for a real-time investigation, i.e. when a matter concerning a young person comes up, it is prioritized.”
Especially for children under the age of 15, the focus is on preventive work, multi-professional Ankkuri activities and police cooperation with the school and child protection.
“In other words, the suspicion of a crime is not treated only as a criminal case, when the case usually does not even go to prosecution, but it is treated from the point of view of the perpetrators’ life management and future.”
What causes the malaise of young people and the seriousness of crime, which is concentrated on a small group?
“This is the real question to which I don’t have a direct answer,” says Koskimäki.
According to him, the background is probably due to deficiencies in taking responsibility for parenthood. The Corona period possibly deepened family problems, and students dropped out of school. The answer is probably quite simple, he reflects.
“Yes, those routines are what everyone should invest in. That there is regular school work and that young people have hobbies and this type of thing. Fun to do.”
Koskimäki says that there have been good successes in the preventive work of the police, for example with young people suspected of being street gangs.
“I see its intervention as really important – the earlier it happens, the better. We even have excellent examples of street gang cases, where the intervention of the police has saved the perpetrator of the crime.”
According to him, the same applies to drug control aimed at young people.
“When that intervention came, then they started taking responsibility, and the direction has turned. That is, even though those hard methods are used, they have also worked from the point of view of the individual, so that the cycle of crime can be broken.”
Helsingin Sanomat reported at the end of last month about the organizational reform of the Helsinki police, where, according to the newspaper’s information, one option is even to abolish the youth crime investigation and preventive police. Koskimäki says he got it from the police chief of Helsinki From Jari Liuku guarantees that the functions in question will be secured.
“Criminal investigation of young people, child criminal investigation and Ankkuri activities and other multi-professional cooperation are secured with certainty. Likewise, cooperation with schools and preventive work in its various forms are secured. The preventive work related to the fight against street gangs will definitely be secured.”
Final decisions have not yet been made in the Helsinki police, but Koskimäki says based on the preliminary preparatory work, he is confident that the reform will improve the conditions for combating youth crime.
“The police department has the right to terminate those structures, but these functions will remain and further investment will be made in these.”
The government granted the autumn in his budget rush five million euros for the police to combat youth and street crime. Koskimäki says that planning for the allocation of funding started immediately together with the police chiefs.
“The funding applies to next year. We don’t know the use in detail yet, as the design is still in progress. Some can be used to hire staff, but we also have other ideas related to technology, for example.”
The police Koskimäki sees the transfer of
crimes to the online environment as the biggest challenges. More and more often, crimes are committed in whole or in part online, which brings an extra dimension to the investigation. He gives, for example, abuses between young people, of which footage is shared on social media for the purpose of defamation.
Another thing is managing the growing workload.
“When there is more work than we have time to do in any case, how do we do the tasks required by law as effectively and economically as possible.”
Investigations are focused on big cities, but at the same time patrols should also be present in sparsely populated areas if something happens. Koskimäki says that the issue of the possible thinning of the police station network is extremely sensitive, as it is about the residents’ sense of security.
“This is all under review. That is, how do we ensure that police services are available throughout the country equally, as required by law,” he says.
“The branch network is currently being examined in the ministry. Let’s go through whether the police offices are in the right places.”
Koskimäki does not reveal how he plans to develop the police or whether there are any major reforms planned. According to him, the funding of the police has slightly improved. He does not believe in austerity, but says that development must be done continuously.
“I would say that the base is good, though. Money has not been spent wastefully, but the need for efficiency must be constantly evaluated.”
According to him, if something is coming, it will be done together and in such a way that the staff stays involved.
“This is not a one-man show.”
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