‘Women pass the entry exams and then demand desk jobs’
POLICE CHIEF Charalambos Koulentis said yesterday unless immediate steps were taken to change a system that favoured the employment of women over men, the island would soon have a police force on its hands that was “weak and unable to carry out its obligations”.
Koulentis said studies had shown that if something was not done to limit women’s entry into the police force, in the next few years half the service would be made up of women, with the majority of them refusing or unable to carry out operational duties due to a lack of physical strength.
“There is a serious concern that unless certain measures are taken, at the end of the day, there is a strong opinion that we will have a police force that is weak and unable to carry out its obligations,” he said.
At present almost 17 per cent of the force is made up women.
Unlike other countries, such as Greece (15 per cent), the UK (18 per cent), Sweden (22 per cent) and Finland (25 per cent), Cyprus has not set a maximum percentage of female officers allowed entry, meaning all women who fit the physical criteria and pass the examinations are accepted.
“The problem is that women are better at passing examinations than men because they study harder and are smarter,” said one female officer, who wished to remain unnamed.
Koulentis said women also had the unfair advantage that their physical requirements were lower than those of men, and suggested introducing a uniform physical exam instead, which would possibly slow down the problem temporarily.
Today the height requirement for women is 1.60 metres and 1.65 metres for men.
Also in the long jump men are expected to reach 2.5 metres as compared to women’s 1.5 metres, in the high jump men are expected to jump one metre against women’s 70 centimetres, and finally men must complete a 1,000 metre run in five minutes and 20 seconds while women only have to run 800 metres in the same time.
The police chief was speaking to reporters following an explosive article splashed across Politis front page yesterday.
But the unnamed female officer said she agreed with her chief.
“I hate to admit it, but it’s true. I’ve been in the service many years and it is a huge problem. Most of us do not want to carry out operational duties and would rather sit behind a desk and do administration,” she said.
In fact the officer said a lot of women blatantly refused to carry out operations or patrols.
“They say they’re afraid to work at night, or that they have young children and can’t work in the afternoons,” she said.
“The problem is that although most women work in admin, most of police work is operational, and although a lot of women have the brainpower and pass the exams, once they’re in they just don’t have the physical strength or stamina for investigative work.”
She said although all officers – both men and women – signed an agreement that they were at the force’s disposal 24-hours a day, in any place or any town, few women accept these regulations once hired.
“If they’re transferred to traffic police for instance they’ll moan and question why they should go there until the transfer is cancelled. If the transfer isn’t cancelled they’ll take sick leave and not show up for work.”
Politis reported one female constable who has been on sick leave for three months to avoid working at a district police office. The same officer has allegedly put pressure on people in high places to ensure she is moved back to her administrative duties.
The source said a recent internal survey had recently indicated that of the force’s many departments including the criminal investigation department [CID], traffic police, drug squad, aliens and immigration, criminalistic service, scientific department [made up technicians, the police air wing unit, port and marine police], the bomb squad, the crime prevention squad and the crime intelligence unit, only very few women worked in the criminal investigation department [CID], the drug squad and the traffic department.
“Unlike other countries there are none in the bomb squad, helicopter unit, marine police, or the dog section for instance. The ones who are, are secretaries and typists, and not on the operational side of things. They just don’t want operational roles or to work at night. The problem is there are not enough people to fill the operational vacancies and the admin vacancies are oversaturated,” she said.
In light of what he sees as an escalating problem, Koulentis reportedly told aides that he was aware there would be a strong reaction from both political groups and women’s organisations but that he could not shy away from the problem.
“We told him to keep quiet because he’s retiring in about six months so why make things difficult, but he said his conscience wouldn’t let him do that,” another officer said.
He said since he’d identified the problem, he wanted to try and solve it before he leaves.”
Koulentis said yesterday he had already spoken to the Justice Ministry about his concerns and that any changes to the law would keep in line with legislation on the equal treatment of men and women so as to avoid discrimination. He has also said to have been in contact with the Attorney-general and the ombudswoman.
Justice Minister Sophoclis Sophocleous said the question that needed asking was whether we wanted a police force that was “strong-armed” or one capable educationally, intellectually and had quality. He said he believed a combination of the two would bring the best results which was why very careful steps had to be taken to deal with such sensitive matter and to have results.
“There are women police officers who definitely execute their duties excellently and we have to positively consider one fact that women who succeed in their exams continue to perform very well,” Sophocleous said.
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