Future of police after a solution

POLICE Chief Tassos Panayiotou said yesterday that in case of a settlement, there would be two police forces and a federal investigation agency that would be made up of officers from both constituent states.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Panayiotou said that according to UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s final plan for a settlement, the existing Cyprus police will be the law enforcers of the Greek Cypriot constituent state, while the Turkish Cypriot police would remain as the police of the Turkish Cypriot constituent state.
“According to the plan we will have a federal police system that will consist of members from both communities,” Panayiotou said.

“The Cyprus police will be turned into the Greek Cypriot constituent state police, the so-called Turkish Cypriot police will be the police of the Turkish Cypriot constituent state.
“There will be a Joint Investigation Agency which will be the federal police and will be under the Federal Attorney-general and his deputy, and will be run by a Police Chief and Deputy Police Chief,” he added.

Panayiotou said both constituent states would have a base of 700 police officers plus 6 officers per 1,000 of the constituent states’ population.

“If our population is 700,000, then the number per population is 4,200 plus the 700 officers,” Panayiotou said.

According to the plan, the Turkish Cypriot constituent state will have a lesser number of police officers, approximately 1,780, but Panayiotou refused to be drawn into a debate on the numbers, saying he would not comment until after he met with deputy Attorney-general Petros Clerides.

Panayiotou said the Federal police would consist of an equal number of officers from both constituent states, but said no numbers had yet been decided.

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.