Expert says recent incidents have dented police reputation

Recent police use-of-force incidents have damaged public confidence in the police, but the effect is likely to be temporary, police law expert Henri Rikander told Yle.

Rikander said the incidents involving a police manoeuvre to stop a moped in Tuusula and a firearm in Tampere had dented the police’s reputation. On Tuesday, police also reported that a person had died in Espoo after officers used a Taser. That case was not known when Rikander was interviewed.

In the Tampere incident, a man filmed a situation on Wednesday evening in which an officer pointed a gun at him from the back seat of an unmarked police car. The man had opened the door of a car parked by the roadside without knowing that it belonged to the police.

The video shows the police carrying out a traffic enforcement task. The Sisä-Suomi Police Department has reported the incident to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Discussion has focused on the use of the firearm. Under the Police Act, a firearm may be used only when conduct posing an immediate and serious danger to another person’s life or health cannot be stopped by a less serious means.

Rikander said that threshold was not met in the Tampere incident.

“In legislation, the use of a firearm also means threatening someone with the weapon by pointing the barrel towards them. The decision to begin a preliminary investigation was entirely expected,” he said.

However, carrying or displaying a firearm is not prohibited under the Police Act, Rikander said.

The officer shown in the video will be transferred to other duties, deputy police chief Antero Rytkölä of the Sisä-Suomi Police Department confirmed to Yle.

High trust creates strong reactions

Rikander, who has researched police use of force for more than a decade, said major controversies arise because people have a high level of trust in the police.

He described the incidents within the same week as unpleasant setbacks for the police, but not permanent damage.

“In the bigger picture, it should be remembered that, compared with police forces in other countries, the Finnish police are very restrained in their use of force. A temporary setback should be accepted as feedback,” Rikander said.

He said there had been no attitudinal change in the police during the period he had studied their use of force. Instead, the use of firearms was generally more controlled today.

Criminal law professor emeritus Matti Tolvanen previously told Yle that he did not believe the police had grounds to threaten the man with a firearm in the situation shown in the video. Rikander agreed with Tolvanen and also criticised the officer’s language.

“The first thing to do is not to take a gun out of its holster. The person could, for example, have been told that this was a police matter and asked to leave,” Rikander said.