Police to record all calls to stations

COME Monday, citizens’ calls to central police stations across the island will be recorded in a bid to upgrade the force’s services to the public, it was announced yesterday.

With this system, “we will ensure the immediate response of our members and on the other hand make sure that citizens’ complaints will be handled in the best possible way,” police chief Michalis Papageorgiou told a news conference.

Initially, the system will record calls to district call centres (district HQs) with a view to extending it to all police stations in the future.

“Our aim was, and we are in the process of implementation, for the system to cover all police stations without exception, departments, offices, branches that the public can contact and make complaints,” Papageorgiou said.

Apart from the regular calls, police will record incoming and outgoing calls on the 112 and 199 emergency lines.

Papageorgiou said the conversation will be recorded so that police could later check what was said, the officer’s behaviour and whether the complaint was handled in an appropriate manner.

The system will also record radio dialogues between officers – what instructions were given to responding officers “so that we ensure the timely, proper and efficient investigation of every complaint file by a citizen.”

The chief assured that there was no issue of personal data violation.

“We have made sure that the system does not conflict with the law and does not violate personal data,” Papageorgiou said.

He added that the area where the data will be kept will be secure and no one would have access without the approval of the chief and there is a reason why a conversation must be played back.

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.