Supreme Administrative Court of Finland overturns police commissioner’s dismissal over WhatsApp messages
The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland has overturned the dismissal of a commissioner from the South-Eastern Finland Police Department, which occurred due to the use of private WhatsApp messages. In its ruling, the court determined that the police department did not have a legal basis to make use of private messages in the dismissal proceedings. The only evidence presented for the dismissal was the content of the messages.
The court emphasized that the police officers involved had an expectation of confidentiality in their communications with one another. The WhatsApp messages were revealed during a criminal investigation involving a chief constable at the Helsinki Police Department, who was not implicated in any crime but had received messages from the dismissed commissioner. The South-Eastern Finland Police Department argued that the commissioner had lost the trust required for his role due to the views expressed in the messages, the details of which are sealed in the public version of the dismissal notice.
The messages in question reportedly contained extreme-right and racist content, exchanged with several police officers and civilians. The court noted that there was no criminal suspicion against the dismissed commissioner when the messages became known, nor was there any related preliminary investigation initiated against him.
A legal expert commented positively on the court’s clear stance against the use of private messages, emphasizing the importance of maintaining scrutiny of police behavior, particularly regarding communications that could lead to disciplinary actions. The broader investigation revealed a network of far-right activities within the security sector, resulting in the dismissal of five police officers, with two previous dismissals already annulled by the Helsinki Administrative Court. The Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling specifically addressed the appeal from the South-Eastern Finland police commissioner.