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NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998 The characteristics of the suitable enemy Some of the characteristics of a suitable enemy were found (Christie & Bruun 1986): nobody defends the victims (the suspect) or the defence is very weak, that is to say that there are very few opponent opinions or there are none. (The act was so cruel that there was no room for defence, and it would have been disgracing the “departed heroes”, if someone had dared to criticise the action of the police or analyse them control-critically.) 9 The attacker (the police) gets the honour; the weak groups pay the main part of the consequences of the war (foreigners as suspects) and the majority’s way of life was hardly disturbed, more dangerous and important matters got no attention, that is to say that the centralised power and the great majority were left in peace; and also one of the characteristics of an ideal problem is the fact that it can explain other undesirable things (e.g. the cancelling of prison leaves or the necessary existence of the prison institution): Social demand for harder control and criminal policy In Finland the Minister of Justice had started the conversation of tightening the too liberal criminal policy (see e.g. Suomen Kuvalehti). The liberal “understanding” criminal policy of the seventies had come to its end. 10 The “common people” are thought to support the harder line without reserve 11 (it can be proven by gallup surveys!): It is believed that people are afraid of the prison leaves. The hero hardly soiled himself with these demands: Moderate police? - “Statesman’s funeral” For a long time the tight budget of the police had been a constant concern of the media and the subject was brought up again, as expected, by some parliament members. Representatives of the police union expressed their opinion on this question in electronic media. The police acted moderately, and as a matter of fact, in this way they got the “public” sympathy: The police did not make the mistake of trying to get more money before “the bodies were cold”. 12 And most significantly they did not have to do it for themselves: media let representatives of the public tell their opinion several times, for example about 80-years old woman insisted on more powers for the police in nine o’clock news. But the Police made a great pr-happening (Durkheimian functions: funeral have several functions including as a rite, it functions as a symbol of community’s social existence) organising a “Statesman’s funeral” with funeral procession passing the central police station, where police chiefs were saluting: 20 000 people were present, and funerals were televised. So the church had their share too, the church used death, funeral as rehabilitation of religious rites, to rehabilitate of religion and church 9. There was a contradictory element concerning villain - and this is the only place I will mention anything about the person, Christiansen himself. People were confused by the thoroughly contradictory personality of the suspect: how was it possible that (as a policeman said: “the dream son in law”) a well-behaved, pleasant and handsome <strong>Scandinavian</strong> (one of us) could commit such a crime. 10. Also Helsingin Sanomat expressed its opinion in its editorial 28th October 1997: “The support of the citizens helped the police significantly” on this matter: “<strong>Scandinavian</strong> liberal prison policy had - once again - sad consequences. Christensen is not the first major criminal, who has amazingly easily got a leave from the prison. He is also not the first, who murders someone.” 11. There were also opponent opinions. For instance, the Councillor of the Court of Appeal, Jukka Kemppinen analysed the incident and the grief it caused and said that this sorrow could also have a connecting and healing power (“Common grief, a turn to the better” ). He wrote in Helsingin Sanomat 8th October 1997: “Opportunism is flourishing. When people are terrified of crimes, more severe penalties are demanded and people are silent about the fact that this kind of practice turns the crimes even more serious and causes more suffering and costs.” 12. I know from my fieldwork experience that the internal conversations in the police was quite different. The chief of the National Bureau of Investigation expressed his opinion very objectively in Helsingin Sanomat 31st October 1997. But you can find purposeful rhetoric in his statement (see footnote 13). 142
NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998 institution in godless postmodern era (Look at the photo of mass procession!). Neither did the media blow it. Still moderate Finnish media? Also the media acted in a moderate Finnish way, and let the relatives mourn in peace. And it did not try to raise moral panic and turn sorrow into hatred. The sorrow was kept on the surface, the hatred was suppressed. No doubt, the English media would have acted the other way round. The place of the murders, ground of historical values, the old centre of Helsinki Lastly, it is possible to speculate that the public reactions may not have been so positive and extensive, if the incident had occurred in a “normal context of evil or crime”, for instance in sub-urban Kontula or in Lahti in Liipola, and not in the centre of historic and upper-classic Helsinki, the metaphoric heart of the (patriotic) nation. This place was easy to find and bring condolences from all over Finland (vs. the sub-urb of Kontula), too. Police-public relations The good police-public relations have been used as an explanation model for the “public reaction”. It is believed that there is fair play even with the robbers in a small village like Finland. But does these good relations have a lot of value as an explanation model in this story? Consequences? At last, did this episode give anything new to the Finnish criminal policy? Did it leave only a social demand for harder control and criminal policy? Did it leave an admiration for our police and a concern of its too tight budget, lenient use of firearms, changes in strategies and tactics, wider powers etc.? 13 13. The tight budget of the police is often seen (by the police) as a crucial problem of the social order: the chief of the National Bureau of Investigation wrote in Helsingin Sanomat 31st. October 1997: “Open borders change the police work. The peaceful development of a democratic society is secured by providing sufficient assets for the authorities.” His article deals only with the police. 143
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Organised Crime & Crime Prevention
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Rådsmedlemmer: Flemming Balvig, Da
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ISBN 87-987103-0-3
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