Filenews 25 July 2021 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis
The Cyprus Police Association insists that the police force has been "castrated" and its president, Kyriakos Charalambous, explains how and why. He stresses that what police officers demand is solid support from the State, political parties, the journalistic world and society in general.
"We ask for their protection and defence as what we do without their assistance is incomplete." The president of the Cyprus Police Association (SAC) belonging to PASYDY notes that many criminals when arrested tend to falsely report the police officers or threaten to denounce them in order to obstruct their work and use it in court.
-The Police and by extension the police officers are being questioned on the one hand for the use of excessive force and on the other hand that they are not intervening vigorously where they should. How do you comment on that?
- First of all, it would be a good idea to look at who the police are being put through for excessive force. Those who accuse the Police of excessive and unnecessary violence are usually those who have accepted this "violence". We must therefore reflect on this. The police officer is well trained to deal with incidents in which he will use the appropriate violence, with the ultimate aim of protecting the lives and property of citizens as well as taking care of compliance with the law. Police officers are not criminals or people who are inherently violent. Their use of force is enforced by their duty and is always the result of pre-existing violence. The action brings a reaction.
No police officer will wear his anti-nuisance harness and go to some place on his own. In order to force the police to be present in a place, this means that there is a need or fear of aberrations.
So how can any police officer appease or contain an angry mob? Definitely not with please and thank you.
So that is what we mean by similar violence, that is to say the enforced and imposing way, which the police officer will be forced to use in order to ensure law and order. Through this process, therefore, such police violence is wrongly translated as excessive.
With regard now to the cases in which the police are accused of not having a dynamic intervention, it would be beneficial to ask who and when they are accused. In most cases this happens when outlaws or angry mobs cause incidents uncontrollably. In these cases, therefore, it is clear the necessity of the police presence and the imposed use of such force, as well as the consequences caused by its absence.
You realize that it is one of the reasons for this polarization, which stems from your question, namely either excessive violence or inaction, is the falsification of the news and misinformation.
Half-learning is worse than ignorance. We all see as a society the power that social media has today. The information and information of the public is no longer done by the reputable press but by these means, in which, unfortunately in our case, anyone is given a step to share his own material (photos, videos) piecemeal and methodically and to be placed for or against everything. So when the position of serious and reputable journalist is now taken over by everyone on his couch, who has no respect and no knowledge of journalistic ethics, how do we expect there to be no misinformation and falsification of facts. And unfortunately, everyone who attempts to get up to date on social media has a share of the responsibility without critical thinking and without being able to follow the events globally and multifacetedly.
Of course, there are several cases where even professional journalists on the altar of first news and impressment shape public opinion accordingly, for example with the headline "The Agents of Shame", as I mentioned in my previous statements. How do we expect the citizen to be respected and disciplined when the police are mocked and mocked and the means by which they are equipped. I like to think it's well known that Ajax was not invented by the Cyprus Police. It is an instrument used worldwide for years by many police forces in order to suppress nuisances by providing security to the Police officer as well as space to act.
-According to the legislation, police officers can use "proportionate force" in incidents that need to intervene vigorously. How difficult does this make the work of your colleagues?
- This makes the work of the policeman much more difficult than anyone can imagine. First I will invoke a phrase by the former Chief of Police, Mr Zacharias Chrysostomou, who, in order to outline the scope of the officer's duty and the requirements of his professional training, often said that at any time the police officer can be called in a split second to decide whether to take a life (always within the framework of legality) or how to act in order to save a life.
This finding accurately captures the difficult burden on a police officer's back. The right to use such violence is not a privilege. It is another obligation of our profession with which we are called to familiarize ourselves. I repeat that police officers are not criminals or people who in their daily lives tend to exhibit extreme behaviour.
However, they are called upon to deal with various incidents such as escapes, attacks, nuisances, people carrying guns, people with psychiatric problems and many more, to which they are obliged to cope by ensuring both their own integrity and those of others. You therefore understand the sharpness, composure and self-control they must have in order to do their duty properly and lawfully. And all this under pressure and a sense of danger even for their own lives.
Countless times police officers become receivers of abusive behavioirs and provocative attacks. However, their training is such that they are able to manage such incidents by exceeding themselves. And at a time when their every act or inaction is criticised and targeted.
-Recently in your statements, you referred to the "castration" of the Police and due to frequent complaints to the Independent Authority. On the other hand, in several cases police officers were tried and convicted of violent conduct against civilians. What's to be done?
-A great many cases against police officers are investigated every year by the Independent Police Complaints and Complaints Authority, but they are measured on the fingers of one hand in which the officers were convicted. It is important to know that several outlaws such as drug dealers, people who have committed murders, sexual abuse of minors, kidnappings and various other criminal offences, when arrested, tend to falsely report police officers or threaten to report them, with the aim of obstructing their work and using it in court to avoid conviction. Since the existing law gives them this possibility without repercussions, there are cases in which lawyers are the ones who motivate their clients to file a complaint against our members in order to challenge in court later the legal actions of police officers in the investigation of criminal cases.
Thus, through this process, instead of being interrogated and accused the illegal/criminal is interrogated and the police officer is charged. This procedure is quite psychoactive and costly for him, even if at the end of the day he will be vindicated, as is the case in most cases. It is unacceptable for a police officer, who represents law and order, to be referred so easily to criminal investigators, to be referred to investigative offices and courts called to prove his innocence and, in the end, to bear the costs of lawyers.
This process is also costly for the State, as many millions are wasted each year on the remuneration of criminal investigators.
We've been saying this for years, but the state seems to be deaf. It is obvious that this law needs to be amended. If the legislation provided that in cases where the police officer is vindicated and the complaint proves to be false, the person who made the false complaint should be charged before a Criminal Court, which may impose a penalty on him for his fictitious complaint, and in addition be charged with the legal costs paid by the police officer to prove his innocence. , then the situation would be very different.
I spoke of the "castration" of the Police which did not take place overnight and many are the reasons why the police officer is undervalued in the conscience of the average Cypriot citizen, some of whom I analysed above. This sense of uncertainty and the fact that my colleagues are left exposed on multiple levels demonstrates the need for a fundamental review by society of the role and recognition of the police officer.
"We demand constant support from the State"
-During last Sunday's incidents outside the Presidential palace and in the Dias complex, 12 police officers were injured. This isn't the first time members of the security forces have been injured. How exposed are police officers today and what needs to be done?
-Police injuries are indeed a common occurrence in all frontline departments in our professional daily lives. Behind the police raid are ordinary people, with families, who are still concerned and concerned about their physical and mental integrity. A striking example is the images we all witnessed of the last injuries of colleagues in last Sunday's incidents. A fellow police officer lying unconscious on the ground and around him, his colleagues yelling at him to keep himself alive. And all this to defend the lives and property of others.
Each of us is fully aware of the conditions of the profession and is therefore trained. After all, this profession belongs to the high-risk professions around the world and it would be naïve if any of us ignored or underestimated the risks. However, what we demand is firm support from the State, political parties, the journalistic world and society in general. We ask for their protection and defence as what we do without their assistance is incomplete.
What is essential, however, is the use of Education and the Family in shaping the appropriate and appropriate culture towards the police officer. In a democratic and well-known State, elementary respect for the law and its exponents is essential, a respect which must be passed on from adults to minors. New generations must grow up with values and ideals and cultivate their spirit through education. Values such as dialogue, democratic conscience and respect for morals and laws may keep them away from delinquent behaviour and elevate the role of the police officer to their conscience.
Out of the way and wronged by the policeman.
- Do police officers today have the means and training to cope with their increased duties?
-The multiple risks in the police officer's office are undeniable and clearly police officers need both the means and the appropriate training to be able to meet the demands of their increased duties. The ability to think critically, the knowledge of Criminal Law, the knowledge of First Aid, the familiarity with technology, the ability to use weapons and other police equipment, police skills and leadership skills are essential today for the police function.
These are the requirements and the police officer is trained in a Higher Education Institution, but the State rewards the police officer with the lowest salary, which makes him out of the way and wronged.
The Cyprus Police Association (S.A.K.) will continue to defend the rights of police officers in all areas and in particular on the issue of remuneration, since in cooperation with PA.SYDY has already submitted a detailed request to the M.E.P.A. with the aim of upgrading the ranks at all levels of the Police.
