UK police ----> Finnish police?

HalfFinnJames · Post by **HalfFinnJames** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:42 pm

Hey all,

This is my first post since discovering this forum a couple of days ago and first and foremost I have to say how happy I am to have found it!

I have no immediate plans to move to Finland but this forum got me thinking i might do in the future. I was born and bred in England and have a Finnish mother. I speak relatively fluent Finnish but not to the standard of a true Finn... I can kind of read it... But I can't write it. I am however sure I could get up to scratch relatively quickly if I wanted to and moved to Finland. I'm 30yrs old and a Metropolitain (London) police officer and am wondering has a UK police officer ever transferred to the Finnish police? Has anyone ever heard of it happening? Does anyone know what a Finnish cop gets paid? Oh and yes I have recently been granted dual nationality

Any thoughts anyone?

James

**Sponsor:**

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:09 pm

The police is reducing its force due to budget problems. Iirc there is no place for about 100 students of the police academy when they graduate next year.
And I think that beside Finnish, cops should be able to speak Swedish too. Although with your dual nationality it should be possible to transfer to the Finnish police, but I think your chances are not very good (unless you have special skills they need at the moment).

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:14 pm

HalfFinnJames wrote:I speak relatively fluent Finnish but not to the standard of a true Finn... I can kind of read it... But I can't write it. I am however sure I could get up to scratch relatively quickly if I wanted to and moved to Finland. I'm 30yrs old and a Metropolitain (London) police officer and am wondering has a UK police officer ever transferred to the Finnish police? Has anyone ever heard of it happening? Does anyone know what a Finnish cop gets paid? Oh and yes I have recently been granted dual nationality :)

Poliisiammattikorkeakoulu, or “Police College of Finland”, actually touches upon that question in their English FAQ.

See here and here for more information on wage levels.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:21 pm

HalfFinnJames wrote: I speak relatively fluent Finnish but not to the standard of a true Finn... I can kind of read it... But I can't write it.

And people have gotten tickets and detained for asking the relevant question: "kumpi teistä osaa kirjoittaa ja kumpi lukea?"

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:31 pm

Kissapupu (nii-in, maailma on merkillinen) ihmetteli ja kyseli äitipupulta, miksi hän on kissapupu.

”No, kun silloin nuorempana olin vähän villi... Ja oli pimeääkin... Niin, että sinun isäsi on sitten kissa”, vastasi äitipupu. Ja tähän kissapupu tyytyi; vakuuttihan äitipupu, että hän rakastaa kissapupuaan aivan yhtä paljon kuin muitakin lapsiaan.

Aikaa kului ja kissapupu lähti maailmalle. Reippaana ja sosiaalisena se ystävystyi helposti. Eräänä päivänä sitä vastaan tuli omituisen näköinen otus.

”Moi, minä olen kissapupu. Mikäs sinä olet?”
”Minä olen muurahaiskarhu”, kuului vastaus.

Jopa on merkillinen maailma, tuumi kissapupu.

Matka jatkui ja seuraava otus laahusti vastaan.

”Moi, minä olen kissapupu. Mikäs sinä olet?”
”Hirvikärpänen”, kuului vastaus.

Kissapupu oli entistä enemmän ymmällään.

Taas matka jatkui ja vielä yksi otus tuli vastaan.

”Moi, minä olen kissapupu. Mikäs sinä olet?"
”Moi, minä olen poliisikoira!”

AldenG · Post by **AldenG** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:21 pm

Do Metropolitan Police officers get certified on a firearm?

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:14 pm

Some do, some don't. But the vast majority don't. In fact, I think my nephew (he's been in the Met for 4-5 years) has hardly had any firearms training at all (and no military service of course). But they are trained to use stun guns, at least I vaguely remember him telling us he had been on a course.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:04 pm

penelope wrote:Some do, some don't. But the vast majority don't. In fact, I think my nephew (he's been in the Met for 4-5 years) has hardly had any firearms training at all (and no military service of course). But they are trained to use stun guns, at least I vaguely remember him telling us he had been on a course.

Last Poliisit episode, Kuopio iirc, the coppers told that they try to go to shoot in every shift. Stun guns are quite recent addition to Finnish police's arsenal, few years, max ten I'd say.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:10 pm

Upphew wrote:
penelope wrote:Some do, some don't. But the vast majority don't. In fact, I think my nephew (he's been in the Met for 4-5 years) has hardly had any firearms training at all (and no military service of course). But they are trained to use stun guns, at least I vaguely remember him telling us he had been on a course.
Last Poliisit episode, Kuopio iirc, the coppers told that they try to go to shoot in every shift. Stun guns are quite recent addition to Finnish police's arsenal, few years, max ten I'd say.

And if you count times they actually shoot or even draw a gun in field

I think its "just to be sure" and actually rarely used if you dont count effect that "bad people" know that police is armed.

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:34 am

They do not have any problem with shooting any wild in the city. If you are a deer please stay out of the city, chances of meeting police is rare but all people are ratting you out

Have suspicion it is good for the partyfund all that meat they can sell.

CarmenfromTexas · Post by **CarmenfromTexas** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 12:02 am

Hi HalfFinnJames. It may take longer than you want to become a cop but I think you would be valuable because you also speak English and there is a large international population in Helsinki and almost all use English as their second language. Swedish isn't so important and you really don't want to know what an elderly Swedish lady is yelling at you as they are experts at a good tongue lashing.

Rick1 wrote:They do not have any problem with shooting any wild in the city. If you are a deer please stay out of the city, chances of meeting police is rare but all people are ratting you out Have suspicion it is good for the partyfund all that meat they can sell.

I recently saw on some TV show that reindeer are worth at least 1400, euros on the hoof. Made me want to raise some. Too bad my apartment is so little?

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:17 am

Rinso wrote:And I think that beside Finnish, cops should be able to speak Swedish too.

CarmenfromTexas wrote:Swedish isn't so important and you really don't want to know what an elderly Swedish lady is yelling at you as they are experts at a good tongue lashing. :lol:

Hmm. That was actually not Rinso’s personal opinion but a legal requirement...

“Persons working as police officers in Finland must be Finnish citizens and (except when working for the Police Authority of the Åland Islands) possess a certificate of proficiency in Finnish and Swedish.”

The required level of language proficiency depends on where you would be working. But even in fully monolingual areas, you still need the certificate to prove you have at least rudimentary knowledge of the other language.

Kutittaa · Post by **Kutittaa** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:12 am

In short, you can't be a cop unless you can speak and understand the language fluently enough... so you won't be able to make use of that small dictionary you've been carrying around in your pocket.

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:37 am

In short, you can't be a cop unless you can speak and understand the language fluently enough...

That's the official version. In practice, have you ever tried to use Swedish with a cop outside of Åland/Vasa or the Punavuori region of Helsinki?

edit: inversely, the cops in Åland are pretty bad at Finnish too

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:11 am

interleukin wrote:edit: inversely, the cops in Åland are pretty bad at Finnish too

Nonono... Åland is the only place in Finland where there is only one official language. Thus the coppers there can be as bad as they like in Finnish, Other polices must have paper stating that they have passed some test in the other language, be it Swedish of Finnish.

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