Fine Land Part 3
It’s a joy to me after three years living in London to be able to leave my bag on a chair when I get my coffee, to have my wallet or phone on the table when I drink it, and to not have to hold my bag while I do so.
I find it hilarious that not everyone shares this sense of safety. Aussie Girl’s Finn once told me “this country has more crime than anywhere in Europe.” I raised an eyebrow incredulously. Bugger any statistical way that statement can be proven, I’m quite content to feel safe or unsafe depending on who you listen to in the Finnish bad lands.
People still talk about crime that happened years ago (the man with the axe on the metro to cite but one). Car crashes regularly get double spreads and front pages of the yellow topped tabloids.
I once left my mobile phone in a car park, reckoned on where I had left it, casually made my way back and found it still there. I have been chased by those who have picked up things I have accidentally dropped on the street.
Guns? Guns are for moose not for people. Fatal train accidents? The words don’t go together with the super efficient modern system on which I am currently riding as I write this.
On a recent walk I visited a park which had an area sectioned off for allotments. Being summer, the allotments were decked out with accessories; proper barbecues, garden furniture, umbrellas and the like. People were not around. There were no fences, no CCTV. And people were very happy to leave their belongings out in the open. The yoof had not even thought to come round and vandalise.
There’s an opinion I have heard hear that if you provide people with everything they need they won’t commit crime for it. It’s a debatable theory but one which in practice seems to be working here.
For now I walk the streets safe in Finland. Sure it won’t always be like this but I am happy to have experienced a place like this while it still exists, so I can bore my children with stories like “once we could walk around without fear of being shot on the metro.”
Finnish crime statistics
I find it hilarious that not everyone shares this sense of safety. Aussie Girl’s Finn once told me “this country has more crime than anywhere in Europe.” I raised an eyebrow incredulously. Bugger any statistical way that statement can be proven, I’m quite content to feel safe or unsafe depending on who you listen to in the Finnish bad lands.
People still talk about crime that happened years ago (the man with the axe on the metro to cite but one). Car crashes regularly get double spreads and front pages of the yellow topped tabloids.
I once left my mobile phone in a car park, reckoned on where I had left it, casually made my way back and found it still there. I have been chased by those who have picked up things I have accidentally dropped on the street.
Guns? Guns are for moose not for people. Fatal train accidents? The words don’t go together with the super efficient modern system on which I am currently riding as I write this.
On a recent walk I visited a park which had an area sectioned off for allotments. Being summer, the allotments were decked out with accessories; proper barbecues, garden furniture, umbrellas and the like. People were not around. There were no fences, no CCTV. And people were very happy to leave their belongings out in the open. The yoof had not even thought to come round and vandalise.
There’s an opinion I have heard hear that if you provide people with everything they need they won’t commit crime for it. It’s a debatable theory but one which in practice seems to be working here.
For now I walk the streets safe in Finland. Sure it won’t always be like this but I am happy to have experienced a place like this while it still exists, so I can bore my children with stories like “once we could walk around without fear of being shot on the metro.”
Finnish crime statistics
posted by Rowena at 5:38 pm
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