Helsinki Administrative Court has ruled that a decision by police to dismiss an officer — who had demanded compensation from a teenager — was not illegal.
In June 2019, the officer was found guilty of a breach of duty by Helsinki District Court for demanding that a family pay him 500 euros in compensation, after the family's teenage son had posted a YouTube video of the constable and another officer removing a person from Helsinki Central Railway Station on May Day 2017.
The teenager, who was 14-years-old at the time uploaded the clip to YouTube, naming it: "Racist police officer arrests young immigrant without reason" (rough translation from Finnish). The video, in which both officers were identifiable, was viewed more than 58,000 times before it was removed from the platform.
A few months after the district court's verdict, the officer was dismissed by the Helsinki Police Department because his actions were considered to be potentially damaging to the credibility of the police force.
The officer filed a criminal complaint against the teen for posting the clip, saying it amounted to aggravated defamation and obstruction of an official. However, a preliminary investigation into the matter was closed because the probe's subject was under the age of 15 and not criminally liable.
Following the completion of this preliminary investigation, the officer arranged a meeting with the boy's parents at Helsinki police headquarters in Pasila, at which he demanded at least 500 euros in damages for aggravated defamation. The teen's mother later testified in court that the officer personally sent her a bill for 500 euros along with a bank account number.
The district court ruled that the officer had misused his authority by asking for payment from the family and that his actions endangered public trust in the police as he had sought to mediate the personal settlement while on police premises and in police uniform. The verdict was upheld by the appeals court, and the Supreme Court recently dismissed an application for leave to appeal the case.
In his application to Helsinki Administrative Court, the officer said that his intention was to defend the impartiality of the police and to refute any suspicion that the police had acted in a racist manner.
The Administrative Court dismissed the appeal and ruled that the officer had acted in breach of his official duties.