Greetings from Alumni: Jarno Ukkola, Constable Intern at the Helsinki Police Department

This time around in our Greetings from Alumni series, we interviewed our alumnus Jarno Ukkola, who works as a constable intern at the Helsinki Police Department. During his time at Hannes between 2009 and 2019, Jarno worked as an IT service desk professional and system administrator.

Hi Jarno, how has your autumn started?

Hi everyone! My autumn has started by going from the crime prevention unit at the Helsinki Main Police Station in western Pasila back to wearing the blue overalls in “the field”, where I work at the eastern field division located in Malmi. Currently, I'm on vacation for two weeks, which I will spend writing my thesis.

You work as a constable intern at the Helsinki Police Department. Can you tell us about your work and what is included in your daily responsibilities?

During the 42 weeks of internship, police interns go through a vast variety of functions. At the Helsinki Police Department, this includes 15 weeks of crime investigation at the Criminal Investigation Division, three weeks of stand-by duty at the Helsinki Main Police Station’s police matters booth filing crime reports and advising citizens, three weeks at the Traffic Control Operations watching after speeding drivers and drivers not using seat belts and hands-free devices, and 21 weeks of maintaining public order and safety at the Alarm and Field Operations.

There seems to be quite a difference between the work of an IT professional and a police officer. Can you share the story behind this career move?

It may seem that the two professions are quite far from each other, but in fact they both require similar attributes, such as service mindedness and good communication and problem-solving skills, just to name a few. Although police have many forcible means at their disposal, we prefer handling most situations by “verbal judo” rather than the physical one.

Do you have any plans to combine your knowledge of information technologies and your career as a police officer in the future?

Not at the moment. There are so many skilled professionals working for the police in that area of expertise, and I will gladly leave the job to them. One of the reasons for me to pursue my childhood dream profession was also to steer away from the regular nine-to-five office routine, so I’ll leave that option hanging if working on the field doesn’t suit me.

You could say that both law firms and the police work for justice. How do you think your role as a police officer impacts the society?

I believe everyone has the right to be treated with respect, as a person, regardless of their social status. My role is to live by what I believe in and maybe someday train my own intern to do the same.

During your time at Hannes, you worked in our IT Team. Is there something you miss from those times at Hannes?

I sure miss the bad humour, the great work atmosphere, and of course the magnificent people I had the honour to work with throughout the ten-year-period I was at Hannes.

Lastly, what was the best thing about working at Hannes? And what is the best thing about working for the Police of Finland?

There are so many things I could mention since I had such a long run at Hannes, but I have to say the best thing was definitely the people!

At the police, I would say the versatility inside the organisation. There are so many positions you can apply for with the same education throughout whole country.

I want to say cheers and thanks for the past +10 years to everyone at Hannes! And remember —  a police officer is a friend!