Police expand public camera surveillance while withholding exact locations

Police camera surveillance in public places is expanding to about 10 new Finnish municipalities this year, Yle reports. Police authorities have not disclosed the exact number of municipalities or cameras involved, but say the project is progressing as planned.

Camera surveillance is already in use in dozens of municipalities across Finland. Police say it helps them respond more quickly to crimes and disruptive behaviour, direct patrols to the right places and identify suspects.

In Kirkkonummi, a municipality in western Uusimaa, cameras are being installed in the town centre and several urban settlements. Signs notifying residents of the surveillance have already been put up, while the cameras are due to be installed in the coming weeks.

The locations were chosen based on a council initiative and responses to a wellbeing and safety survey conducted among residents a couple of years ago. Kirkkonummi municipal manager Virpi Sailas said the cameras would mainly be placed in shopping centres and around railway stations that residents consider less safe or more disorderly.

Helsinki has monitored public places with cameras for almost 20 years, but the system is still being expanded. Surveillance and visible police patrols have been increased in areas including Sornainen.

Mikko Minkkinen, a senior superintendent at the Helsinki Police Department and head of its emergency and surveillance operations centre, said camera surveillance had helped police arrest people suspected of serious crimes soon after offences were committed this year.

He said the need for more surveillance was growing because of increasing disruptive behaviour and crime.

Police Inspector Hannu Kautto of the National Police Board said cameras were one of several tools used to prevent crime, respond to disturbances and focus police work where it could provide the greatest safety benefits. He said disruptive behaviour, rapidly spreading new phenomena and emerging security challenges required better situational awareness and faster responses.

Police also use body cameras and drones. Camera surveillance may, according to police, help prevent crimes and disruptive behaviour as well as assist in investigating offences.

Kirkkonummi has also increased lighting in locations requested by residents. Sailas said she considered the municipality a safe place to live, but that it still wanted to improve both safety and residents’ sense of security through cooperation between authorities and dialogue with residents.