"Joosep Kaasik has repeatedly proven his values, skills and abilities as a leader. Throughout his long police career, he has held a wide variety of positions and has always focused on community-based policing. He has very good theoretical knowledge of management and practical experience from both the police and Tallinn University of Technology," Vaher said.

"I am sure that these will help Kaasik to create the best possible security for the residents of Tallinn and Harju County and to support the team of the North Prefecture in the best possible way," he added.

Kaasik said he considers it important that the contacts of the people of Harju County with the police are practical, helpful and create a sense of security. "I consider collaboration to be the key to success in security, both within the organization and with partners. I also support people's desire to learn, improve and test themselves in new positions, including leadership. I believe it helps to find new ideas, gives them confidence to realize these ideas and makes the North Prefecture an innovative police unit where you want to work and where people want to come to work," he said.

Interior minister Kristian Jaani said it is a value in itself that a police officer who has meanwhile worked in another field returns to the organization, bringing in new and different knowledge from outside. "I am sure that Joosep Kaasik will bring new directions to the PPA based on his four years of experience at a research institution. His return shows that the police value gaining new experiences and are ready to implement them in their organization," the minister said.

According to Jaani, Kaasik will get a very good team with whom to stand for the security of the people of northern Estonia. "The North Prefecture includes Tallinn and Harju County, but in numerical terms it covers almost half of the Estonian population. I am sure that in the form of Joosep, the residents here will have a good cooperation partner," the minister said.

Joosep Kaasik joined the police service in 1991 and worked in the police for 26 years. As his last position at the PPA, he headed the development department. Prior to that, he worked in the law enforcement department and at the West Prefecture and has also taken part in the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After leaving the Police and Border Guard Board in 2017, Kaasik took up the position of TalTech's administrative director and was responsible for raising the level of administrative and support services and capacity development as a member of the Rector's Office of TalTech.

Kaasik graduated from the Paikuse Police School in 1993 and the Police College of the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences in 2001. He has a master's degree in administrative management from TalTech since 2005, in 2017 he obtained a master's degree in the CEPOL study program and in 2019 graduated cum laude from TalTech with a master's degree in digital change.

Joosep Kaasik will start as head of the North Prefecture on April 1.

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