Liverpool’s Merseyside police investigators train CMP staff

Two senior trainers from Liverpool’s Merseyside police have provided training in Nicosia to more than 20 Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots involved in the investigative efforts for the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).

According to a CMP announcement, the training which took place this week, was led by senior Merseyside police officers Tim Keelan, recently retired with more than 40 years investigation experience, and John Porter, a serving officer and trainer with more than 30 years’ experience.

The one-week training covered, inter alia, topics such as the conduct of witness interviews and assessments, the evaluation and grading of information, the recording of witness statements and data management.

The newly-acquired skills are designed to help CMP staff improve their theoretical knowledge and practical application of investigative skills and assist the CMP to recover and identify the remains of persons still missing across the island.

“This is particularly important at a time when witnesses with knowledge of sites where missing persons may have been buried are reaching very advanced ages,” an announcement said.

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.