Police Barometers are conducted by the Police Department of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior and since 2016 by the Police University College. The surveys chart Finnish respondents' (aged over 15) attitudes towards the role, activities, and services of the police. Citizens' fears, crime risk, and opinions on national security are also covered. FSD collections cover data from 1999 onwards.
The Police Barometer 2022 surveys citizens' views on the operation of the police and the state of internal security in Finland. The survey examined respondents' trust in the police, the legitimacy of the police, the availability and effectiveness of police services, police visibility, experiences with crime, and the reporting of crimes. The survey was conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, Statistics Finland, and the Police University College.
Initially, respondents assessed the police's ability to ensure public order and safety, as well as the importance of various police duties. Respondents' sense of security and fear of crime were studied by asking how serious they considered crime to be in their local area and to what extent various issues and phenomena concerned them. The survey then explored whether the respondent had been a victim of various crimes (e.g., theft, car theft, armed threats, data breaches, or sexual harassment), whether they had been a witness or a plaintiff in a criminal proceeding, and whether they had experienced threats or pressure from someone involved in a criminal proceeding. Additionally, respondents were asked whether they had reported the crime to the police after becoming a victim or target of a crime, and if not, what was the reason for not reporting it.
The final section of the survey focused on evaluating police performance. It examined the availability and visibility of police services by asking, for example, how often police patrols are seen in the residential area and how far the nearest police station is. The quality of police services was assessed by asking whether the respondent had been in contact with the police during the past 12 months, why they had been in contact with the police, and how they had been treated. Respondents were also asked how well the police have performed in various tasks and in crime prevention, as well as how police services have developed in their area recently. Finally, respondents assessed whether the police treat people differently based on their ethnic characteristics or socioeconomic status, as well as their own trust in the police, fire and rescue services, emergency response centers, private security companies, border guard services, customs, defense forces, and the judicial system.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, employment status, education, income level, police department area, and whether the respondent or a close relative works for the police.
The sample was drawn using random sampling from the entire population based on Statistics Finland's database on the Finnish population, excluding the Åland Islands. The sample size was 8,500 individuals, of whom 4,044 (47.6%) responded to the survey after three mailing rounds. The sample selection was stratified using proportional quotas based on gender and age groups. The sample also included overcoverage, as the registers from which the samples are drawn are not fully up to date. Had this information been available, the net sample would have been somewhat smaller, and the response rate correspondingly slightly higher. A total of 4,456 individuals, or 52.42% of the sample, did not respond.