By Andria Kades
A group of police officers will now be policing their own, as part of a new internal audit service that began operating this week, aimed at clamping down on corruption.
In Cyprus, the force is often accused of nepotism, questionable relations between suspects and officers and having a general air of being above the law.
Aimed at tackling this problem, the new internal police audit service which began operating on Tuesday, will be staffed by 11 people, informally dubbed as ‘The Incorruptibles’ due to the nature of their work.
Deputy police spokesman Stelios Stylianou said there is one head of the department, his deputy and nine officers.
They are the first members to staff the unit and form the nucleus of the service.
“In the near future, depending on their needs, there may be more staffing,” he told the Sunday Mail.
He could not comment on how many cases they were currently working on, due to the sensitive nature of their work, he said.
The unit is directly answerable to the chief of police and has the attorney general’s oversight.
According to Stylianou, the unit is housed separately from the main headquarters in a bid to avoid forming close ties with officers they may be investigating.
An access control system is in place at the premises, which only allows a select few to enter the offices.
They are tasked with investigating officers suspected of breaking the law and have the authority, according to the law voted through by parliament in January, to put officers under surveillance without a court warrant.
Members of the force will also be subject to narcotests and alcohol level tests without warning.
Although the creation of the unit is an unprecedented move for the island, the law was watered down from its initial version, with Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou saying it created unequal treatment between the general public and members of the police force – in favour of the latter.
For instance, the original legislation allowed the audit services to enter any officer’s premises – including homes or workplace – based on reasonable suspicion alone without a court warrant, to gather evidence or material suggesting criminal activity on the part of police officers.
MPs did not pass this part into law citing concerns it would give the service unrestricted power. Although the minister proposed an amendment to require a warrant for the officer’s home, lawmakers made it mandatory to need a court order to search both the residence and workplace of the suspect.
Highlighting the discrepancy, Nicolaou outlined that in the case of a theft which may have taken place at the premises of a member of the general public, police could enter without any warrant provided the tenant agreed.
However, if a police officer was suspected of involvement, a court warrant would be required to carry out the investigations.
Establishing the warrant however, would need concrete evidence – which might lie in the premises where the police internal audit service would want to investigate.
The idea for the creation of The Incorruptibles was largely born as a result of the June 2016 gunning down of businessman Phanos Kalopsidiotis in Ayia Napa. At the time, Kalopsidiotis was having dinner with two police officers, which raised a lot of questions. One of the officers was killed in the shootings.
While the unit may help build public trust in the police force, the force itself appears to be more ambivalent. Police officers showed very little interest in working in the new unit. Applications were open for officers already in the force but only 20 applied for the posts.
A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were two possible reasons for this.
“It is a new unit, so perhaps they feared the unknown.”
Additionally, potential candidates may have been deterred by the thought they would be investigating colleagues who were possibly corrupt and therefore feared any personal repercussions this may have had to themselves.
“These are just theories for now. However, since it began operating, the unit’s chief has received many calls of people displaying interest,” according to the source.
