Reader’s Opinion | The police’s team specializing in intimate partner violence has been an invaluable help to the residents of shelters

We took In Helsinki’s shelters, I received the news about the Helsinki police’s preventive action plan to be discontinued (HS 29.8.). For clients of shelters, a group specializing in domestic violence and honor violence has been an invaluable help in an often nightmarish life situation. The majority of intimate partner violence remains a hidden crime, and some of it only comes to light when it is already too late. Protecting victims of intimate partner violence and honor-related violence and intervening in these crimes require special skills from the police.

According to our experience, the teams of the Helsinki Police, which are now under threat of termination, have handled this demanding work professionally, treating their customers with respect and managing to react in time to difficult threat situations. Customers in a particularly vulnerable position and belonging to minorities, for whom a criminal report would probably not be filed due to fear or ignorance, have received invaluable help from this group, and the activity has also helped to increase trust in the actions of the police and other authorities. The employees of the shelters have received valuable consultation help from the police officers of the preventive function.

In 2015, Finland committed to the Istanbul Convention, i.e. the Council of Europe’s convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In 2019, the Council of Europe’s expert group on combating violence against women and family violence (GREVIO) called on Finland to increase the resources, expertise and powers of law enforcement authorities to intervene in the forms of violence mentioned in the agreement. If the group specializing in intimate partner violence and violence related to honor is abolished, it is clear that the police of Finland’s most populous city will make a future strategy completely opposite to Grevio’s recommendations.

The police work of the preventive function in the field of domestic and honor-related violence is quite progressive at the national level. Behind the competence of the unit is years of long-term work, which cannot be easily recovered once lost. In our opinion, instead of disbanding, the police should expand the preventive function to other municipalities in Finland.

Minna Remes-Sievänen

responsible social worker

Shelter Hertta

Laura Laine

shelter manager, social worker

Sophie Mannerheim shelter

Marjukka Huttunen

social worker

Shelter Mona

Tommi Tolmunen

responsible social worker

Shelter Tilkka

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