Chief Commissioner Jarmo Heinonen says that the police have already increased their presence on the streets.
The Helsinki Police Department has already intervened and plans to intervene more and more in the future with the drug problem rampant on the city’s streets.
– We are increasing the resources used for both visible and plainclothes surveillance and information acquisition, says the Chief Commissioner of the Helsinki Police Department Jarmo Heinonen.
According to Heinonen, this will take place as part of the upcoming organizational reform, but in practice the measures have already been taken.
According to Heinonen, the police’s actions have already been able to influence, for example, the situation in Kurvi and the notorious Piritori, or Vaasanpuistiko. The problem has just moved elsewhere.
– When surveillance has been carried out in the Vaasanpuistiko and Kurvi area, crime has partly moved to Katri Vala park, which is more hidden from view and, from our point of view, a bit more challenging to monitor.
Although Kurvi’s situation in particular has raised a lot of discussion, according to Heinonen, it has not been reflected in the number of police duties.
– In fact, there hasn’t really been any change in the Kurvi area compared to last year, Heinonen says.
According to Heinonen, street users and dealers are the most insignificant thing from the broader perspective of drug crime.
– Drug use in public places, drug-intoxicated people in public places, it is mainly a problem from the point of view of public order and safety. People start to feel that the city is not safe.
People in a bind
Iltalehti reported earlier on Friday about the brazen drug trade and drug use on the streets of Helsinki.
In the story, representatives of agencies working on the street with people with substance abuse problems said that the users are in worse shape than before.
Lived in Kallio for a long time Jouni said that now some of the users are walking “as if in a zombie position, in such a strange link”.
The conversion drug alpha-PVP, or peukku, has become common on the streets of Helsinki. It is considered to be at least part of the reason for the weakened condition of substance users. The police have previously said that it causes, among other things, aggressive behavior.
According to Jarmo Heinonen, this can partially explain why there is so much talk about the drug problem now.
– When there is a single substance on sale, such as that alpha-PVP, which causes some aggression, then that can be the reason why the matter comes up for discussion.
Drugs were used in Helsinki’s Kallio in October. Jenni Host
Roadman type
According to Joun, who lives in Kallio, drugs are now sold more by groups that seem to have an immigrant background, whereas before individual Finnish men did the deal.
Jarmo Heinonen confirms the observation. He states that in the past, individuals financed their own use by selling, but now street distribution is more in the hands of criminal gangs and is more organized.
Public crime may even be considered something to aim for.
– It seems that we currently have those elements in youth culture where we admire this kind of roadman type of activity. This kind of public criminal activity seems to have grown a bit here.
Roadman culture is often associated with enabling an expensive lifestyle through crime.
The used syringe was lying on the ground in Kallio. Jenni Host
Lots of talk
The drug problem on the streets of Helsinki has recently been widely discussed in the public eye.
Heinonen states that the wastewater studies also show that there are more drugs on the market than before. He believes that attention is being paid to the drug problem now, however, because there has been a lot of talk about it.
According to Heinonen, this may also affect the increased awareness that drug dealers with a foreign background are outwardly different from what they were used to before.
According to Heinonen, however, the drug problem as a whole is a broader issue than just a street phenomenon.
– We have international criminal organizations that are responsible for moving drugs from one country to another. We have more multicultural environments than ever, where you can find people who have connections to, for example, their old homelands. The number of such networks is growing rapidly.
Heinonen says that the police are now also trying to intervene in the entire distribution chain more effectively than before.
#People #walking #strange #loop #Helsinki #police #speaking
