Police Barometer

What is studied?

The aim of this survey is to explore the views of citizens regarding the activities of the police and the state of internal security. The survey has been conducted since 1999, and it is carried out around every two years. Statistics Finland carries out the survey, commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with the Police University College. The results will be made public in 2023.

How to answer the survey?

The persons selected to the survey will receive a letter by post asking them to take part in the survey on a web form. The letter contains instructions for responding on the web form and a personal ID and password which are used to respond on the form. 

If you have received an invitation to the survey, you can go to the web form from the login link below. 

Log in

Participation does not require any special knowledge and there is no need to prepare for the web inquiry in advance. The paper questionnaire is sent later to those respondents who prefer to respond to the postal inquiry.

When and how are the data collected?

Statistics Finland will collect the data with a web and postal inquiry during autumn 2022. The questions can be answered in Finnish, Swedish or English. Responding will take about 15 minutes.

A total of 8,500 persons aged 15 to 79 were selected at random to the survey. Citizens are asked to provide their views on the police and the effectiveness of police services. They are also asked to report their personal experiences of safety and crime.

Benefits from the survey

The Police Barometer provides citizens and the police with information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. This information is used to supplement the situational picture on security and crime in Finland provided by crime statistics, for example. In addition, based on the respondents' experiences, it is possible to assess the extent of hidden crime.

The results will be utilised in planning measures to promote the safety and well-being of Finnish residents and to support decision-making. The police will also use the results to develop their services in different areas.

Where are the data published?

Results analysed from the data will be reported in the online service of the Police University College and in the basic publications of the survey project. The Police University College will later release the data collected in the project to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive in an unidentifiable format for research, teaching and study use.

Data protection

The Statistics Act obliges Statistics Finland to treat the obtained data as confidential. Data provided by individual respondents cannot be identified. Those handling data at Statistics Finland are legally obliged to secrecy. 

Letter to those selected to the survey (PDF)

Survey brochure (PDF)

Grounds for processing personal data

The grounds for processing of personal data is public interest as intended in the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

Controller

The controller is the Ministry of the Interior.

Further information about the processing of personal data (incl. data subject’s rights) is available here:
intermin.fi/en/data+protection

Further information about data protection and rights of data subjects at: www.stat.fi/meta/tietosuoja/index_en.html

Data release and storage

Statistics Finland will release the collected data to the Police University College without direct identification data (name, date of birth, personal identity code, contact information). The Police University College will store the data material two years after the data collection, Statistics Finland stores the data until further notice. The data obtained by the Police University College will also be released to the Finnish Social Science Data Archive for research, teaching and study use. The Data Archive can deliver the data only to registered customers who undertake to observe the terms of use concerning research data.

Source for contact information

Address data: Statistics Finland's database based on the Population Information System.

Contact information will not be released outside Statistics Finland.

Further information

Police University College

Matti Vuorensyrjä, Researcher, Police University College

tel. +358 295 483 806

matti.vuorensyrja@poliisi.fi

 

Jenita Rauta, Researcher, Police University College

tel. +358 295 483 128

jenita.rauta@poliisi.fi 

 

Statistics Finland

Henna Attila, Johanna Koivula

tel. +358 29 551 1000 (switchboard)

poliisibarometri@stat.fi