Firmer measures against troublemakers and public drinking wanted in Helsinki

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Residents of the capital area long for firmer measures in controlling drinking in public places and other forms of anti-social behaviour, reveals a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup.
      Above all, the Helsinki area residents call for tackling of all sorts of disturbances. No fewer than 87 per cent of the residents of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Espoo wish the authorities would introduce tougher measures to control troublemaking, for example, in parks and on public transport.
      The attitudes are uniform regardless of the respondents' gender, age, place of residence, or political views.
      Among 18-34-year-olds, four out of five ask for firmer measures in controlling troublemakers. The corresponding percentages for the 35-64-year-olds and the over 65-year-olds are 90 and 95 respectively.
     
Drinking in public places is also vehemently opposed. Two out of three respondents in Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa wish the authorities would be more proactive in intervening with the problem.
      The attitudes towards public drinking vary significantly from one age group to another.
      Only one out of three 18-34-year-olds would keep the bottles out of sight, whereas among 35-64-year-olds two-thirds are opposed to public drinking. The over-65-year-olds represent the hardest line in this respect: 85 per cent of the respondents in this age-cohort would tackle the issue.
      The place of residence, by contrast, plays a less significant role with regard to the attitudes.
      Based on the poll, one might suspect that drinking in public is a bigger problem in Helsinki and Vantaa than in Espoo. Of the Helsinki residents, 62 per cent call for a harder line in tackling the problem, against Vantaa's 60 per cent and Espoo's 57 per cent.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Crackdown reduces nuisance passengers from local trains in Helsinki area (4.4.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat