Police call on courts to crack down on assaults on officers

POLICE have appealed to the courts of justice to speed up procedures and provide adequate penalties to tackle the increasing number of attacks on police officers.
Deputy police chief Charalambos Koulentis yesterday highlighted his particular concern for the rising number of attacks on members of the police force, 175 cases last year alone, and the need to provide a proper deterrent.

Police Chief Tassos Panayiotou led the campaign last week when he called on the courts to give priority to cases of attacks against police and to provide deterrent penalties.

The Supreme Court responded on Tuesday with a letter describing the police announcement as groundless and “offensive to the authority of Justice”.
However, Koulentis yesterday repeated the chief’s plea to the courts, saying the judiciary was the appropriate body to protect the authority of the police. He argued for greater sensitivity on cases of citizens attacking officers in the course of duty, given the rising number of these incidents.

“The programme of the courts is made up by the courts. Only the court has the competence to try cases immediately,” said Koulentis.

The Deputy Chief argued his point for a speeding up of procedures and the imposition of deterrent measures. “This gives the message that the law and the police are protected. If a police officer is attacked and his attacker is sentenced two or three years later, what is the result of this?” he asked.

“Our respect for the courts goes without saying, but the message we wanted to give out was our particular concern for the rising number of attacks by citizens on police, and we are talking about offences during the course of duty.”

According to police statistics, the number of cases of violence against police has been on the rise in the last six years. There were 111 reported cases in 1998, 152 in 1999, 148 in 2000 and 179 in 2001. Last year, a total of 175 cases were reported: 29 cases of grievous bodily harm and injury, 132 cases of physical violence, 13 cases of swearing and threats and one case of inhuman or humiliating treatment of an officer.

The numbers look to be climbing; police note for the first six months of 2003, 105 cases of attacks against police were registered.

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