The Security Police moved from their old headquarters at Katajnokka to the shelters. In two years, it is scheduled to move to a new office in Kartinkaupunki. The old headquarters holds more than a hundred years of history of the Security Police and its predecessors.
In Helsinki, at Raatakatu 12, there is a building whose iconic sign on the door is probably familiar to hundreds of newsies.
Finnish Security Intelligence Service.
The doors of the building are rarely opened to outsiders. There’s no sign on the door anymore, but the doors are opening. Footsteps echo in the deserted corridors inside the building. The rooms are empty and badly chipped paint is visible behind the removed furniture.
There is air inside. Indoor air problems are one of the reasons security police moved them to shelters in Helsinki’s Katajanokka in early May. In about two years, the security police will move to Kartinkaupanki when the new office of the Finnish Intelligence Service is completed.
The fourth floor of Ratakatu 12 is closed due to indoor air problems, but you can move around quite freely on the other floors. Brick ovens and modern access control systems create a distinction between the new and the old.
The towering vaults in the two otherwise empty rooms are a reminder that the building held secrets.
Mari Lukkonen, a specialist in the Security Police, remembers her first time in the house. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
Security Police Specialist Mari Lukkonen still remembers the first time she walked through the doors of the iconic building. It was a job interview he had 17 years ago.
– Apparently it went well, he says and laughs.
On Monday, Lukkonen presented the history of the security police and Ratakatu 12 to the media. His dissertation, which was reviewed last year, deals with the Security Police in the years 1978–1990, when Seppo Tittinen was its head.
He admits that the first time at home was stressful.
The enthusiasm is understandable, as the reputation of the house is almost mythical. Its yellow, blue, green and pink walls have seen and heard a lot.
A detective of the Central Police stuffed a pigeon suspected of being a spy. More recently, it has decorated the desk of a counter-intelligence officer of the Security Police. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
Finland’s security and intelligence services functioned in a building built in 1896 for more than a hundred years.
Originally, the building was a residential building where, among other things, gendarmes assisting the secret police of the Russian Empire lived. Since gendarmes were not very popular in Finland, the building was soon given the additional name Spalernja, which was also the name of the remand prison in Saint Petersburg.
The Central Detective Police moved into the building in 1921. Since then, the building has played a central role in the operations of the Finnish security authorities. After the detective Central Police, the building housed the State Police (Walpo) and its successor, the so-called Red Valpo.
Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
Identity cards of Urho and Sylvie Kekkonen. They both worked for the Central Detective Agency. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
The Central Criminal Police also operated in the building until the 1990s.
From 1994, the building was fully occupied by the Security Police. Gradually, as the activities of the security police are increasing and the number of jawans is increasing, it has taken the entire block in its possession.
Until the 1990s, there was a prison in the courtyard of the building, where, among other things, several communists were held, but Arvo Penti, the future head of the security police, was also hanged for allegedly hiding a gun. Out on Ratakatu.
There are many funny stories related to the building. In March 1934, Detective Central Police received a call from the Sixth Police District of Helsinki. According to the call, a pigeon was found on Sallinkkutu in Helsinki, which was spying for the Soviet Union.
Suspicions about the bird’s evil intentions are understandable, since a metal case with a hammer and sickle was found at its foot. In addition, the case also contained a letter in Russian. On one leg of the bird was a set of numbers, as well as a sickle and a hammer.
The objects remind us of the history of the building, the security police and its predecessors. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
The objects remind us of the history of the building, the security police and its predecessors. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
The woman who found the pigeon hoped that if the bird was written about in the newspapers, she would be mentioned as the bird finder.
Investigation revealed that the bird was not a spy, but a pulu used by the Soviet Army in its exercises, which had strayed across the border.
Detective Central Police still thought the pigeon was funny enough that the bird was stuffed and placed in a display case, where it is still on display. Prior to the move, the pigeon and the display case were in the study of the head of counter-intelligence of the Security Police.
The head of the Security Police, Antti Peltari, says that the building will maintain a hundred years of history of the Security Police and its predecessors. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
Antti Peltari has been the head of the Security Police since 2011. He also remembers his first day in Ratakatu. He held his first press conference on 3 May at the headquarters extension at Ratakatu 10. Last day, American special forces killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
He remembers how the media inquired whether the security police had prior knowledge of the operation that led to the death of the terrorist leader.
They say it was not.
Peltari specifically remembers the moment he heard about the terrorist attack in Turku. He came to know about what happened on his way home and turned back to Ratakatu.
– This is one thing that stuck in my mind.
The safes were still in the building. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
Peltari is pleased that the security police will be able to move into the new complex, which has been designed for just that purpose. Even in the planning and construction of the building, safety is taken into account differently than in Ratakatu. At the same time, more than a hundred years of history of the Security Police and its predecessors live within the walls of Ratakatu.
This quarter is historic for the security officers of Finland.
The building is owned by Cenatti Kintistot, who is also responsible for the continued use of the building.
The jail located in the premises of Ratakatu 12 is shown in the photo. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
There used to be a sign on the door of Ratakatu 12 saying that the building was occupied by the security police. Now there is no sign. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
The building is dilapidated in places. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
The walls of the building are colored. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
Announcement from 1953. Photo: Paula Cascima / IS
