Finnish police education and cooperation between the police training institutes of the Nordic countries and EU countries were the topics discussed when EU Home Affairs Commissioner, Swedish Cecilia Malmström visited the Police College in Tampere on Thursday 12 September.
The reform of Finnish police education was among the issues presented to the Commissioner. The structure of police education will be completely reformed in 2014 when the basic training will be polytechnic level and the degree in Police Command will become a master's degree in policing.
"During the visit we wanted in particular to emphasize that nowadays police officer is an expert profession requiring a wide range of skills. Training must be continuously reformed. This way we are able to ascertain that skilled police officers graduate from the Police College also going forward," says the Police College's Director Kimmo Himberg .
Unique police training concept in the Nordic countries
Commissioner Malmström visited the command training centre at the campus where those in advanced training go through realistic exercises in leading police operations.
Malmström was also briefed on the cooperation of police training institutes of the Nordic countries and the Nordic police training concept. In contrast to most EU countries all the Nordic countries are developing police training to be part of higher education.
The European Police College (CEPOL) and other current issues in police training at the EU level were also discussed during the visit.
