A SURVEY by the Paphos Chamber of Commerce has shown a fivefold increase in crime in Paphos since 2000, warning that if left unchecked this trend could have a serious impact on tourist arrivals.
Although the surge in crime in the Paphos district is well documented, police manpower has remained virtually unchanged in the past few years. Coupled with the fact that crime has increased geometrically, this makes Paphos the area with the highest rate of criminality on the island.
The report said that tourists, when considering whether to visit a country, are primarily concerned with safety and hygiene.
The chamber has reportedly addressed a letter to Justice Minister Doros Theodorou indicating that, “All the studies and interviews we held with travel agents and tourism organisations concur that crime and cleanliness are likely to create an irreversible image for our tourist product.”
It also pointed out that, a year since the last meeting to discuss the issue, next to nothing has been done to remedy the situation.
Paphos police superintendent Michalis Papageorgiou yesterday acknowledged that the district faced crime problems, but hastened to add that, “as with all other things, we should not blow things out of proportion.”
He cited logistics and lack of funds as the reasons for the shortage of manpower in the Paphos area, saying current personnel were doing all they could to cope.
One idea has been to give officers incentives for overtime work, said Papageorgiou. But as far as increasing the local force’s numbers, he added, that was a remote possibility at this point.
The core seems to be the government’s policy of financial austerity. Papageorgiou told the Cyprus Mail that, during a recent meeting with Justice Minister Theodorou, the latter said Paphos should not expect fresh manpower, “at least until the end of the year”.
And as far as the community policing pilot programme was concerned, Papageorgiou explained that this was never applied in Paphos, but rather in the districts of Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol. However, due to scarce resources, the much-vaunted programme has now been restricted to certain neighbourhoods, and is unlikely in the foreseeable future to develop into a fully-fledged policy.
Paphos and surrounding villages have earned notoriety as being prime targets for burglars, with the victims usually retired British expatriates and tourists renting apartments.
