The State Police (Valpo) ( fi, Valtiollinen poliisi) is the predecessor of the

Finnish Security Intelligence Service The Finnish Security Intelligence Service ( fi, Suojelupoliisi, Supo; ), formerly the Finnish Security Police, is the security and intelligence agency of Finland in charge of national security, such as counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism, ...

History

Etsivä keskuspoliisi

Valtiollinen poliisi has its roots in Osasto III ("Section III") which was formed in summer 1918 by the right wing (so called "whites") of the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

. Its mission was to conduct military intelligence and to monitor the other side of the civil war, the so-called "reds." In the beginning of 1919 the passport section of the general staff which was responsible for internal intelligence was moved under the supervision of the internal ministry and the organizational changes were continued by forming Etsivä keskuspoliisi (EK), which translates directly to "Detecting central police". Etsivä keskuspoliisi was made permanent at the end of 1927, and in December 1937 its name was changed to Valtiollinen poliisi. Later famous politician and president of Finland

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as prime minister ...

worked as

abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen ye ...

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

and lawyer in EK.

Valpo I

Valpo II (Red Valpo)

Otto Brusiin Otto Brusiin (2 June 1906 – 31 October 1973) was a leading Finnish teacher of law. He taught at Helsinki from 1949 on before he was made assistant professor at Helsinki in 1955 and professor at Turku in 1961. Recorded to have been a stirring te ...

was Valpo's director from 26 April 1945 to 10 January 1946 in which time many people were fired from Valpo and replaced with communists and other radical leftists. Many of these people used to be watched by Valpo. This era was commonly called as the "Red Valpo", more officially "Valpo II." After Brusiin, Valpo had many directors who served only short periods. The true director was considered to be the extra department head

Aimo Aaltonen Aimo Anshelm Aaltonen (10 December 1906 – 21 September 1987) was a Finnish construction worker and politician. Aaltonen was born in Pargas. He became a communist as a young man and went to the Soviet Union in 1930, where he studied from 1930 t ...

who was also the president of Suomen kommunistinen puolue (SKP) ("The

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP; sv, Finlands Kommunistiska Parti) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned ...

"). He had to resign in 1947 for internal party reasons. His status was later confirmed in Ahlbäck's committee's hearings, and the investigation led to criminal charges against Brusiin and other personnel from Valpo for negligence of official duty. Valpo was decommissioned in 1948 and replaced with

Suojelupoliisi The Finnish Security Intelligence Service ( fi, Suojelupoliisi, Supo; ), formerly the Finnish Security Police, is the security and intelligence agency of Finland in charge of national security, such as counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism, u ...

which started its operation at the beginning of 1949 and had a considerably smaller staff.Suojelupoliisin historia
/ref> The archives of Etsivä keskuspoliisi and Valtiollinen poliisi are public up until 1948, and they are kept in the Finnish National archives.

References

{{Authority control Defunct intelligence agencies Defunct law enforcement agencies of Finland 1918 establishments in Finland Finnish intelligence agencies