Rovaniemi police move into temporary station after years of indoor air problems

A temporary police station in Rovaniemi will open in early June, providing clean workspace for roughly 100 officers displaced by long-standing indoor air quality issues, *Yle* reports.

The modular building, assembled on a site near the city’s bus terminal, will house critical operations including emergency response and patrol units. “The most urgent need was to relocate staff exposed to the worst indoor air conditions,” said Simo Korhonen, chief shop steward for Lapland Police. “This includes our dispatch and patrol teams, who handle time-sensitive work.”

Rovaniemi’s original police station has been largely abandoned due to severe contamination, though its detention cells remain in use. Officers have been working in stopgap offices across two floors of an adjacent government building, with additional container units placed in the courtyard. Remote work has not been an option for operational roles, Korhonen noted.

The new temporary facility will also accommodate investigators and licensing officers who reported health issues linked to poor air quality. Furnishings were sourced from other state agencies across Finland, with only select sanitized items carried over from the old station.

Nationwide, about a quarter of Finland’s police stations face similar structural problems, according to Jonne Rinne, chair of the Finnish Police Associations’ Federation. “We’ve had members in Jyväskylä dealing with this since 1996, and Tampere is now undergoing renovations,” Rinne said. “But Rovaniemi’s situation has been among the most acute—nowhere else have we received as many direct pleas for help.”

A permanent replacement station, currently under construction, is slated to open in early 2029. The interim solution will serve as the primary base for emergency response and investigative work until then.