September 2018 will mark a 100 years since the beginning of Finnish national police training and the foundation of a State Police School in Finland. In honour of the anniversary, the Police University College will arrange an Open Day, allowing the public to visit its simulation training city for the first time. Research by Finnish historians on the various historical phases of police training has been compiled into a book that provides a new perspective on the history of police training as part of a changing society.
Police training was neither comprehensive nor systematic at first, but law enforcement was approached from multiple directions, including starting from scratch. However, independent Finnish police training has continuously developed by responding to the expectations of society and the rise in the general level of education.
“The current Police University College is the only educational institution in Finland that trains police officers. The Police University College is an internationally known, modern, higher police education institution and one of the best-known and highly rated universities of applied science among Finnish young people,” says Director Kimmo Himberg .
“The work done by the historians has been described as unique. I hope that these new perspectives help us, as current police training professionals, to understand that the results of our work affect the future development of the whole of society, as the well as that of the police. We are building the foundations for future colleagues - and the Finland of the future. We must direct our gaze to the future, as well as appreciating our history.”
The history book Muodollisesti pätevä? Poliisikoulutus itsenäisessä Suomessa (Formally qualified? Police training in independent Finland) is a historical study of police training from almost the very beginning to the current provision. The work will be published on 7 September, i.e., almost one hundred years to the day since Finnish police training is considered to have begun. The book can be downloaded from the Police University College’s website later in September.
Activities for the whole family on Open Day, 8 September
An Open Day will be held at the Police University College in Hervanta, Tampere, on Saturday 8 September. Police training and operations will be presented at this event, which is for all family members.
Among other activities, during the day you can familiarise yourself with police equipment, police dog operations and criminal investigation, and watch drone flights. Visitors can also tour the Police University College’s simulation training city and find out how it feels to be spun around with a car in the seatbelt simulator. Younger family members can obtain a ‘detective passport’ by completing a set of tasks. The Police University College students’ band will perform on the programme stage.
During the Open Day, visitors can learn about the history of the police from the Police Museum exhibition, Formally qualified - a century of Finnish police education. At the special exhibition, visitors can catch a glimpse of conditions in the Police School in the Fortress of Suomenlinna and can follow the progress of a murder investigation at the Police Academy in Otaniemi, Espoo. You can also listen to memoirs by police students and teachers, watch vintage training films and explore the fitness tests for current entrance exams.
You can also experience a patrol vehicle driving game on the basis of a 360 video recording and visit Pokela , children's very own police station in the children’s section. The Police Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the day of the event.
» For a more detailed Open Day programme and further information on other anniversary events see: polamk.fi/poliisikoulutus100 (in Finnish only)
