Schools face rising threats as Lapland police get daily calls

Schools are hearing more violent language and threats, while police in Lapland receive calls from schools every weekday, Yle reports. Nationally, almost 7,000 criminal reports last year named an educational or research institution as the place where an alleged offence took place.

Assault was the most common suspected offence in the reports, according to National Police Board figures. The number of reports has risen nationally, but regional differences are large and may partly reflect differences in how many institutions operate in each region.

The figures do not show how many crimes actually occurred at schools or what type of institution was involved. A single report may include several alleged offences, and not every incident is reported to police.

Threats heard among younger pupils

Petri Mäkelä, principal of Ylikylä School in Rovaniemi, says pupils are making serious threats at younger ages. Phrases such as “I’ll kill you” and “I’ll shoot you” are familiar even among first-graders, he says, although children that age do not understand the full meaning of what they are saying. Mäkelä describes the language as a way of expressing emotional strain.

He says serious threats of violence are not especially common in Lapland, based on his experience. Most children and young people behave appropriately, he says, while a small group is behaving more aggressively.

Police received nearly 20,000 reports linked to educational institutions in 2024-2026, compared with fewer than 9,000 in 2021-2023, according to the article. The figures do not show whether a child was suspected of an offence or was the victim.

Teachers also face violence and threats

The Finnish Education Employers and Teachers Union, OAJ, says it has seen a sharp rise in contacts about criminal matters involving teachers. It has received about 200 such contacts this year, compared with a few dozen a year around five years ago. Those contacting the union include teachers suspected of offences as well as teachers who are victims.

In a recent education-sector working life survey, 14 percent of respondents said they had faced violence or threats of violence at work during the previous year. Violence was most common in early childhood education, while the greatest increase over the past two years was in basic education.

Cases in which teachers are victims often involve a pupil hitting, kicking or scratching them. Situations in which teachers are suspected of offences typically arise while they are maintaining order, OAJ says. Guardians are also increasingly filing criminal reports involving teachers.