As a sociologist, it’s interesting to note how Finland portrays itself to outsiders. One of these presentations is a three-volume Beginners guide to Finland published by the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS). Just like the populist catchphrase maassa maan tavalla, in Rome do as the Romans do, asylum seekers and migrants are being fed myths about ourselves.
Read on »Posts Tagged: police
Watch out for the Finnish police “pizza squad!”
Two policewomen who are looking for tax evaders have their eyes set on pizzerias, which are, surprise, surprise, mostly owned by migrants. If this isn’t an example of ethnic profiling then what is?
Read on »Defining white Finnish privilege #23: Greater police powers to monitor migrants and minorities
Finnish white privilege, like any majority culture’s privilege, not only permeates in our institutions but marks the pace of how those with no privilege will be treated in this society. Granting the police greater monitoring power to carry out arbitrary checks on migrants, and subsequently non-white Finns, is a case in point in white Finnish privilege.
Read on »Muslim woman wasn’t admitted to the Finnish police training school because she would refuse to take off her headscarf
A Muslim woman, 38, was not admitted to the police training school because she would not take off her headscarf during working hours, reports YLE in English. The woman was so disappointed with the rejection that she even contemplated leaving Finland. Read full story here. “In the [police] interviewer’s opinion it was not possible
Read on »Suspected hate crimes in Finland fall by 20.6% in 2012
Suspected hate crimes in 2012 totaled 732, which is a 20.6% fall from 918 cases in the previous year, according to YLE in English. Of the total hate crimes reported to the police last year, 641 cases were classified as racist. Read full story here. According to YLE in English, the most common offense investigated
Read on »Internal security secretariat head: Many racist crimes go unreported in Finland
Some migrants may not report a racist crime in Finland because of mistrust of the police, poor Finnish-language skills and ignorance of one’s rights, according to Tarja Mankkinen, director of the ministry of the interior’s internal security secretariat. The Police College of Finland reported 918 suspected hate crimes in 2011, which is a 7% rise from
Read on »Council of Europe concerned about ethnic profiling by police in Finland
Is it a surprise that the Council of Europe’s anti-racism body expressed concern in a report that Finnish police ask people’s ID based on ethnic appearance? No need to get an official answer to find out because ethnic profiling doesn’t happen in Finland. Why not ask immigrants and visible minorities instead if you went a candid
Read on »Finnish police to have new anti-ethnic profiling guidelines in force in 2013
Rainer Hiltunen, Ombudsman for Minorities head of office, told Migrant Tales that talks have taken place with the Finnish police to draft new guidelines and more effective monitoring to ensure that ethnic profiling doesn’t happen. The new guidelines are expected to be in force in 2013. The Ombudsman for Minorities office expressed concern in spring about higher-than-average complaints from
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