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Wiretapping

Police listening in more often

The Finnish police are using covert wiretaps more often than before, with some 770 people’s phone calls targeted last year, and more than 2,000 permits granted to access phone records.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Interior Ministry showed that Finnish law enforcement is making greater use of electronic surveillance. Police make particularly extensive use of wiretapping in narcotics cases.

The number of permits granted for wiretaps stood at 2,169, which was up slightly on the previous year’s figure of 2,126. They concerned 2,802 phones belonging to 768 people, compared to 2,458 the year before.

Requests for phone records were also up, with more than 2,000 granted compared to 1,800 in 2013. The police also received permission to access the location data of 213 phones.