The three-year study "The Stopped – Spaces, Meanings and Practices of Ethnic Profiling" showed that ethnic minorities were more often stopped and checked for identification by police and security officers than the ethnic-Finnish majority population.
Ethnic profiling is mostly practiced by police during immigration and traffic control or searches for criminal suspects. However, private security guards also apply such practices, the study noted.
The study stressed that ethnic profiling went against The Aliens Act which prohibits the practice.
The study also concluded that ethnic profiling undermined minorities' trust in authorities and could result in their reluctance to address police or share information with them.
The practice may also affect ethnic minorities’ sense of belonging in Finland or their self-identification as Europeans, the report said.
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The research was conducted in the Helsinki region and in Turku between 2016 and 2017. It was based on interviews with 145 ethnic or racial minority representatives, 26 police representatives, and 14 other specialists.
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