The Finnish and Swedish police will expand cooperation on 1 July 2026, to include dealing with certain emergency response tasks in municipalities located along the border between the neighbouring countries, said the National Police Board on Wednesday.
The new form of cooperation is based on an agreement signed in 2021 between the governments of Finland and Sweden, which was brought into force in both countries through separate acts in 2025.
The agreement allows the parties to request assistance from the police of the other country to deal with urgent emergency tasks affecting life and health in municipalities along the national border.
This kind of police cooperation, in which a police patrol from a neighbouring country independently carries out an emergency response task in another country, has never before been carried out between the two countries.
In Finland, the agreement applies to the areas of the municipalities of Enontekiö, Kolari, Muonio, Pello, Tornio and Ylitornio.
The agreement gives police patrols from both countries the right, on their own initiative, even without a request, to cross the national border and to take such temporary measures in the border area as are necessary to avert an immediate threat to a person’s life, health or bodily integrity.
“This new form of cooperation will further enhance active police cooperation between the two countries,” said Deputy National Police Commissioner Sanna Heikinheimo in the press release.
Both contracting states will assign police officers who have consented to participate in this operation and who have been trained for this purpose over the past few months, both in their own countries and through joint training and exercises organised for police officers from both countries.
- Finland
- Sweden
- Police
- Cooperation
- Border
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
