POLICE yesterday announced that from today members of the public could call a special hotline to report crimes, give information or even file complaints against officers.
New Chief of Police Tassos Panayiotou said the line – 1460 – would be linked to the force’s HQ and staffed around the clock.
Panayiotou said citizens would be able to choose whether to give their name or not and each case would be investigated and a written reply given to complainants as soon as possible.
Panayiotou met with journalists yesterday in an effort to improve relations between the media and the force to make their co-operation more effective.
The Police Chief urged the media to treat the police objectively and to refrain from passing judgement before hearing what the force had to say.
Deputy Chief of Police Andreas Stephanou revealed that within a couple of weeks, crime reporters would be able to access a police website carrying the latest bulletins instead of having to wait for a fax or call the press office.
Panayiotou added that the force was planning to appoint spokesmen in all the island’s districts so as to help communication with the media.
On the crime front, the Chief said the drug squad would be reinforced with additional personnel, adding, however, that parents, the Church, as well as specialised organisations should also deal with the problem.
He urged parents who suspected their children were using drugs to contact the police without fearing that the information would be leaked.
Police spokesman Christakis Katsikides yesterday confirmed the force would at the end of the week be enforcing a new plan providing for frequent patrols across the island.
Apart from crime prevention, the move aims at improving the force’s image as well as its relations with the public.
A high-ranking officer told the Cyprus Mail that, “police presence would become intense”.
The officer said patrol cars would be on duty in various areas but ruled out foot patrols due to lack of personnel.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
