Territorial dispute over untouchables new role

A ROW broke out yesterday between the Justice Minister and the head of an independent police watchdog over the jurisdiction of the newly created team of ‘untouchables’.

On Thursday, the police announced the creation of the Professional Standards Department (PSD) which is tasked with investigating misconduct within the force.

The seven-member team will have the power to launch its own investigation based on information gathered either through its own sources or anonymous tip-offs.

The head of the independent police complaints authority yesterday suggested there would be a conflict of authority between the two bodies.

“If the aim of founding this team is to investigate anonymous complaints, there is no objection on our behalf,” Yiannakis Agapiou said. “But if the aim is to look into formal complaints then we object.”

Justice Minister Loucas Louca said the team will not only investigate complaints. It will also collect intelligence from its own informants about officers and look into them, the minister said.

He said there would be no conflict as the untouchables will investigate cases that the independent authority cannot look into.

DISY deputy and House Legal Affairs Committee chairman Ionas Nicolaou said the police leadership had acted in haste in announcing the team.

Nicolaou doubted the PSD would be effective in tackling the decay and corruption within the force.

He said no law had been passed to cover the PSD in order for them to be able to exercise their duty effectively.

Nicolaou said it was unclear whether the new team would be able to have access to books, documents, bank accounts, property and other data necessary for doing their job.

“Instead of creating the PSD with these standards of operation, we suggest an unbiased objective internal control service, whose operation will be governed by the law and it will have effective authority and clear mission,” Nicolaou said.

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