Flags flying at half-mast outside of the Police Academy to honour the police officers killed at Pihtipudas in 1969.
Senior Constable Reino Harjunpää was killed in the line of duty in Helsinki on 17.2.1966. His funeral was held at Jalasjärvi on 27.2.1966. In this photograph, his coffin is driven through Helsinki towards the railway station, from which it will be transported to Jalasjärvi.
No mission should end with an empty space in our ranks. Today, many people are thinking of a colleague who died in the line of duty five years ago. Western Uusimaa Police Department, Facebook post 17 June 2021
The death of a colleague in the line of duty is always a huge shock to the work community. It happens suddenly and unexpectedly. Often, the patrol partner or members of the team were also at the scene and are especially hard hit by it. Today, the police have an aftercare system to deal with traumatic situations in the first instance, followed by trauma workshops and occupational health services. In addition, the Helsinki Police Department has a police priest whom officers can talk to if they want.
Talking and reminiscing with close colleagues is an important part of the grieving process. Many police officers have stressed the importance of this. Today, protecting the privacy of police officers’ loved ones and the work community has become even more important, as a police murder usually makes the headlines. The spread of rumours in social media and on various discussion forums is a burden for both the work community and the relatives. They can even hamper an investigation.
The police have traditionally mourned and expressed collective sorrow for the death of their personnel. When an officer is lost, especially as a result of external violence, it affects everyone throughout the organisation, manifesting the dangers of being in the police. Obituaries were published in Suomen Poliisilehti and Poliisimies magazines. Today, the obituaries on the Facebook pages of police units also reach out to citizens, allowing them to commiserate and participate in mourning. It is customary to bring candles, small souvenirs, and messages of condolence to the scene of the incident. Under a Facebook post by the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department on 18 June 2016, a user known as ‘Ylikonstu’ from Porvoo wrote:
As the author, I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone who read, shared, liked and commented – on behalf of all police officers!
The support that the Finnish police have received through this helps us to continue our work for the safety of everyone – thank you!
A blue star.
Did you see a blue star in the sky last night? I missed it myself. If I had seen it, I would have stopped and paid my respects in silence. The blue star shines to mark the death of an officer who was guarding the security of the Fatherland in the line of duty.
I did not see the blue star this time. To be honest, I never want to see it! Fortunately, a blue star is a rare sight in Finland’s skies.
Do they even exist? Whether they do or not – today you too should look to the sky and see it in your mind’s eye. Be silent for a moment and let your thoughts be with those who have experienced loss.
Condolences to the loved ones, the work community, the whole service, and every one of us – someone who worked for the safety of us all is gone.
On my next night shift, I will look to the sky…
After the Vihti killing in 2016, many police officers added a thin blue line emblem to their social media profiles as a mark of condolence and grief. The line symbolises the people who stand up to protect something they value. There is a ‘thin line’ between chaos and a society. Other authorities also have similar emblems, such as the thin red line of rescuers and the thin green line of the defence forces. Social media channels make it possible to remember a colleague even years later, for example on anniversaries.
Immediate expressions of grief in the workplace are varied but traditional. A picture of the deceased police officer is brought to their desk, with a bouquet of flowers or a candle next to it. A moment of silence is observed in memory of the colleague at the same time in every police station.
Some police units have a memorial board to commemorate those who died in the line of duty. In 196x, the students’ union of the Police College launched a wall of memorial plaques for the entire nation, to collect the names of all the police officers who had died in the line of duty since Finland became independent. The plaques were transferred to the Police University College in 2008. There are currently 131 plaques. Every year, a memorial ceremony is held near the plaques, and representatives of police units, the Finnish Police Union, and relatives are invited to attend. The Police University College has a rowan tree dedicated to the memory of Senior Constable Kuisma Pihlaja (‘pihlaja’ means ‘rowan tree’), who died in 1997 during an exercise. The police officers killed in Pihtipudas in 1969 have their own memorial.
The funerals of killed police officers have often been major public events. Senior Constable Reino Harjunpää was killed in the line of duty on 17 February 1966, and his autopsy took place in Jalasjärvi on 27 February 1966. In Helsinki, the funeral cortege travelled from Senate Square to the railway station with citizens in procession, before the coffin was transported to Jalasjärvi. The funeral service for Sergeant Eero Holsti and Senior Constable Antero Palo, who were killed on Tehtaankatu, was attended by Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen and Minister of the Interior Ralf-Erik Enestam.
The funeral service is a final opportunity to bid farewell to a patrol partner and a member of the work community. Close colleagues are pallbearers, and there is a police guard of honour outside the church entrance. Senior Constable Antti Murtomäki died on 14 February 1993 from injuries he sustained while stopping a fleeing car 5 February 1993. Senior Constable Esa Elenius, who was Murtomäki’s patrol partner for 6 years as a dog handler, recalls the funeral service:
Antti’s funeral in 93 was held in celebratory spirit in the church in Lapua, his birthplace. The top brass were there, Urpo and the rest of them, as well as loads of colleagues. The people of Lapua filled the pews. After the funeral service and the speeches and food at the parish hall, we went to Simpsiö cemetery. Down the long path in the cemetery, a few musicians from the Helsinki Police Symphonic Band playing the Narva March, the shift officers and I pushed the coffin trolley. Hard to believe that the coffin on the trolley and the man inside it, the man I’d sat in the same car with for six years, was him. As the kettledrum sounded the Narva March, the feeling swept over me. I could’ve conquered Russia. Esa Elenius, email 23 September 2025.
In April 2025, the Guardian Angel concerts were held in three locations in honour of police officers who were killed or injured. The concerts were organised in cooperation with the Helsinki, Häme and Eastern Uusimaa Police Departments, the Finnish Police Union, and the Police Support Association. The Police Support Association will direct the proceeds from the sale of orders of ceremony to police officers who have been injured in the line of duty.