Finland’s Minority Ombudsman has accused the police of targeting foreign-looking people for spot identity checks without offering any explanation. Head of the watchdog, Rainer Hiltunen, claims he has received calls from people of ethnic background who say they have been repeatedly stopped and questioned in the street for no reason.
The police are denying the allegations of bias, claiming they do not make checks on a whim.
“If a person is stopped, they’re told why,” Helsinki police inspector Jari Taponen told YLE, adding that he cannot recall a single case where someone was stopped without being told the reason why.
However, YLE has been given details of an incident when a group of Eastern Europeans were stopped and questioned by police without explanation. Although ethnic profiling is illegal in Finland, officers can make spot checks in an attempt to uncover illegal immigration.
Hiltunen says he would like to see the police come up with their own guidelines on how to target people for random checks. “People have been left with the impression that their ethnic background is the only reason they’ve been singled out,” he said.
The accusations will be drop! Ethnic profiling is necessary these days in order to counter illegal immigration. Do it legally or stay in your god damn country!!