Police chief

Local police departments in the police organisation.

Browse job postings: Police chief

The police chief is required to have supervisory, leadership and organisation skills. A good knowledge of legislation is required in the position.

The police chief needs to work independently and take initiative. In addition, the position requires independent and responsible decision-making skills. As it is important to cope with different people, good interaction skills are required.

The police chief must be able to distinguish big issues from less important issues, and also delegate sufficient tasks to their employees. Employees’ opinions need to be heard when preparing decisions.

Good linguistic skills are required.

Law can be studied at universities. Upper university level degrees include a master’s degree in law.

An alternative is to complete the master’s degree in police services through the police education system, supplemented by an applicable academic degree.

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The chief of a police department is required to have an upper university level degree, knowledge of police activities and the administrative branch, diverse experience as required in the position, and leadership skills and experience as demonstrated in practice (section 14 of the act on police administration).

Linguistic requirements include excellent oral and written skills in Finnish and satisfactory skills in understanding Swedish (section 6 of the Act on the Knowledge of Languages Required of Personnel in Public Bodies).

Only Finnish nationals can be appointed to the position (section 7 of the Act on Public Officials in Central Government).

The data is based on the median income, meaning the amount of salary which is the middle of the salary amounts arranged in order of magnitude.

Source: Statistics Finland's structural statistics on wages and salaries