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Police organisation

Suojelupoliisi

One of the police agencies the Finnish interior ministry lists — a security-intelligence service inside the police structure rather than outside it.

Fact-checkedLast updated

At a glance

Official name
Suojelupoliisi (Supo)
Commonly rendered in English as
Finnish Security Intelligence Service — a rendering in common use, not the organisation’s own name.
System
Finland
Level of government
National
Kind of body
Specialist national service
Status
Currently operating
Facts last checked against sources
13 September 2026

What it is

Finland places its security intelligence service among the police agencies rather than in a separate civilian intelligence apparatus. That placement is the fact worth knowing: countries differ sharply on whether security intelligence is a police function, and Finland’s answer is legible from the ministry’s own list.

What it covers

National, within the Finnish police service.

Broad responsibilities

  • A national police agency within the Finnish police service

Elsewhere on this site

Where this connects

Institutions: National police.

Sources

  1. Police (and agencies and responsibilities)

    Ministry of the Interior, Finland (sisäministeriö / inrikesministeriet) · Government publication · link verified 2026-07-26

    The Ministry of the Interior's English police pages, read directly and re-confirmed. Supports that "the Ministry of the Interior guides and directs the police service, and prepares related legislation" — placing the police under a DIFFERENT ministry from the courts, prosecution and prisons (which are under the Ministry of Justice) — and that the National Police Board (Poliisihallitus) guides and directs operational police activities. Lists the police agencies: the National Police Board, the local police departments (11 on the mainland), the National Bureau of Investigation (Keskusrikospoliisi), the Police University College and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service.