2 December 2008
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The Republic of Finland is one of the Nordic countries. One third of its territory lies north of the Arctic Circle. It has about 3,600 km long frontier, of which 1,100km is the sea frontier. 1,269 km of the land border is shared with Russia, 716 km with Norway and 586 km with Sweden. Between Finland and the fourth neighbour, Estonia, is The Gulf of Finland. Helsinki became the capital of Finland in 1812 and has a population of 565,500.
Finland is a constitutional republic with a president elected for a 6-year term. The 200 members of the single chamber Parliament are elected for four years at a time. Legislative power is vested with the Parliament and supreme executive power in the Cabinet and President.
The Finnish police is organised in three levels: national, provincial and local. The national level comprises the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior, which plans and supervises work throughout Finland. Under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior are the National Bureau of Investigation, the Security Police, the Mobile Police, the Police School, the Police College, Police Technical Centre and the Police IT Management Agency. The Provincial Police Departments deal with police matters in each of the 5 provinces and in the autonomous province of Ãland. At local level, Finland is divided into 90 local departments and the Police Department of Helsinki Local District. In addition, the Åland Islands are covered by their own police district. Pre-trial investigations are usually the responsibility of the police. Customs and Frontier Guard may also carry out investigations in their own areas. Police training institutes, the Police School and the Police College will merge at the start of 2008. The new establishment will be called the Police College of Finland.
The Criminal Intelligence Division of the National Bureau of Investigation serves as the National Central Bureau of Interpol and handles matters relating to international co-operation. It provides practical assistance in international police co-operation to all national law enforcement agencies and the judicial authorities. It also defines the strategy and procedures to be followed with respect to the use of the different international police co-operation channels available. The Head of the Criminal Intelligence Division is also Head of Interpol NCB
The most important legislation in Finland concerning legal and mutual assistance is the Act on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and the corresponding Decree. They are supplemented by the bilateral and multilateral agreements that Finland has made with a number of other countries. Legal provisions on processing personal data and on police information systems lay down in Act on the Processing of Personal Data by the Police (761/2003). The main principle of the Act is that each administration is responsible for contacts with foreign states in matters relating to its own field of activity. In general, all requests for international police co-operation should be sent to NCB. Finland has a special agreement with the other Nordic countries enabling officers from local or specialised bodies to keep direct contacts with their counterpart in other Nordic countries.
The general Finnish court system has three levels: the Supreme Court, Courts of appeal (6) and District Courts (56). There are also eight regional administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court. For matters where special expertise is required, we have certain special courts: the Market Court, the Labour Court, the Insurance Court and the High Court of Impeachment.
Pre-trial investigation in Finland is conducted by a police or customs official above a certain rank, so that inquiry-state information is not passed on to the prosecution in all cases. Pre-trial investigation reports are forwarded to the public prosecutor who in turn considers what charges should be brought. In major cases, however, the prosecution services will from the outset be aware of all facts that might influence the investigation and the prosecution of the case at a later stage.
4.3.1. Finnish liaison officers posted abroad
4.3.2 Nordic liaison officers posted abroad Finland participates in the Nordic Liaison Project whereby each Nordic liaison officer posted abroad also represents the other Nordic countries.
4.3.3 Foreign liaison officers posted to Finland
The Finnish Customs have investigative powers in customs-related crime. Depending on the case, police and customs may operate jointly. Temporary joint investigating teams with investigating officers from both organisations may, if necessary, be established for the purpose. The cooperation is based on the regulation on Police, Customs and Border Guard cooperation. The regulation aims at promoting cooperation between these services such that the fields of activity and parallel duties assigned to these authorities will be covered in an appropriate, economical and flexible manner.
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