Training on probing human trafficking begins

The police and the Border Guard are being trained to investigate human trafficking offences and understand the phenomenon.

This involves the most extensive human trafficking training programme for pre-trial investigation authorities in Finland, said a press release issued by Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).

The training programme will include hundreds of pre-trial investigators involved in both fieldwork and pre-trial investigation.

The training is designed to deepen the pre-trial investigation authorities’ understanding of the phenomenon and give them tools to detect and combat human trafficking.

The training programme is being offered to all 11 of Finland’s police departments, the four administrative units of the Border Guard, and to students on the basic and advanced border guard training courses and the undergraduate course at the Military Academy.

The first training sessions were run for the Southeastern Finland Police Department in Kouvola, and the next training course will be held in Northern Finland.

“There are already police departments in Finland that excel at investigating human trafficking offences. However, such know-how is not evenly distributed across the country. We also want to improve the ability of pre-trial investigation authorities involved in fieldwork, in particular, to detect cases of human trafficking – as they are the ones most likely to encounter victims,” explained Veikko Mäkelä, leader of the project.