National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero believes that although there is work to be done to improve the working culture at SUPO, most of it has been done and there is now nothing to prevent Selin returning to work on Monday.
Last November, police administration officials launched an investigation when Paavo Selin, the head of Supo's field supervision unit, accused the organisation's leadership of harassment.
Selin was said to have suffered isolation on the job following the broadcast of a voice recording last autumn on Channel Four television news, in which former Supo head Seppo Nevala sharply criticised Selin for airing his views on Finland’s possible membership in Nato.
At the time, Nevala was said to have clashed with then opposition leader Jyrki Katainen, chair of the conservative National Coalition Party, whose views were diametrically opposed to those of the Supo leadership on a possible terrorist threat and Nato’s ability to respond to it.
Last November, the newsmagazine Suomen Kuvalehti reported that former chief inspector Matti Mikkola also claimed that for years he had been the target of workplace bullying. At the time, Mikkola said that many others had suffered the same fate, and that several supervisors were guilty of the practice.
Last month, Police Chief Mikko Paatero said that harassment was not endemic in the Security Police apart from the isolated cases that had been reported in the media. Paatero added that there were no systemic abnormalities in the organisation.
Supo has said the claims represent the views of individual employees.
