The course will be held from 12 to 16 May 2025 and attended by approximately 50 persons such as police officers and experts in social welfare, health care and youth work.
The Police University College is arranging police training related to policing in the gaming world for the first time. The aim of the "Basic Course on Gaming Police Operations" is to familiarize participants with a new form of policing and multi-professional work online and in digital gaming forums.
The training covers topics such as the safety of children and young people online and the risks of social digital gaming.
“Our training aims to provide police officers and anchor operators with the specialist expertise necessary to work with communities in the gaming world and online. In addition to basic professional skills, police officers need to know the language of the gaming field, understand gaming culture, and be able to spot harmful phenomena in the gaming world. They also need diverse communication and technology skills,” says Senior Constable Pasi Puumala, the course instructor.
Gaming police officers detect crime on digital gaming platforms
The GAMING POLICE project will develop new multidisciplinary activities to prevent, detect and combat harmful acts and crimes against children in the digital gaming world. The policing on gaming world helps to increase the presence of police online and improve operational capabilities on gaming platforms and discussion forums. It also provides help to at-risk groups and victims of crime. The project will focus especially on sexual violence against children, cybercrime and violent radicalization and extremism.
The gaming policy operation has expanded this spring. Gaming police officers can now be found in Ostrobothnia, Häme and Åland.
The gaming police officers have weekly events online. All events focus on a specific monthly theme such as traffic safety, glorification of criminal lifestyle or gambling. The themes have come either from children and the youth themselves, or they are based on the needs identified by police departments. Once a month the gaming event is multiprofessional. The participants can chat with different professionals within social welfare and health care and youth work specialists - and get help from them if needed. In addition, gaming police officers participate in various events and occasions.
“Because everything happens in the digital gaming world, the gaming police officers operate nationwide with no regional boundaries. Children and young people have participated in the events throughout Finland and also abroad,” says Pirjo Jukarainen, project manager from the Police University College.
“The core idea behind the initiative is to give children and young people the opportunity to chat with police officers and other anchor figures anonymously. It is also important that participation is voluntary, so the client can decide what they want to share and ask about, and when they want to do it. The gaming police will enable the police to reach out to a wide range of young people, such as those who have become marginalized and could not otherwise be reached at all."
The gaming police officers have uncovered crimes such as sexual offences against children, drug trafficking, money laundering and recruitment into crime and extremist movements. Young people themselves have also reported bullying, discrimination, hate speech and racism. The police tasks arising from such interactions have been taken forward as necessary, and young people have received help to protect themselves and break away from crime.
Anchor operators makes the Finnish gaming police operation unique
The three-year GAMING POLICE project is carried by the Police University College, the Häme and Ostrobothnia Police Departments, Åland Police, and the National Police Board. The project team also cooperates with other police units, stake holders and social actors.
Social welfare, health care and youth work specialists involved in the anchor activities play an important role as partners to the gaming police officers. Such close multiprofessional cooperation does not exist in other countries with gaming police operations, such as the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark.
In addition, a wide range of stakeholders from public administration, the third sector, the gaming industry, universities and the international arena are involved in the project.
The GAMING POLICE project is funded by the EU Internal Security Fund (ISF).
