Filenews 30 July 2022 - by Fanis Makridis
A serious gap in the administrative pyramid of the Cyprus Police, with the Minister of Justice Stefi Drakou being called upon to provide a solution to the issue.
Due to a court decision based on promotions of 2011, as well as other related issues, the procedures for the evaluations and consequently the promotions of officers, who will complete the quartet of Assistant Chiefs of Police (Training, Administration, Support, Operations), are affected. At the moment there is only one assistant leader, Christopher Mavrommatis, and there is probably an impediment even with this position.
According to information from "F", the leadership of the Police has established the impasse. The same information states that the police leadership has forwarded a file with all the relevant details on the reasons for the "involvement". The relevant documents include a court decision, opinions and other evidence, which give a complete picture.
In other words, the Minister is called upon to examine the data and give approval for the subsequent process of evaluations for the positions of Assistant Chiefs. The political head of the Police reportedly announced that she will evaluate the data within a two-day period and early this coming week she will make her decisions.
The decision
Based on what we are validly informed, but also what we have noted, a key part of the problem seems to be the decision of the Administrative Court on May 13 (2022). This decision also affects the promotion of the only Assistant Chief of Police, Christoforos Mavrommatis. The latter would normally have to participate in the evaluation process as the third in command in the administrative pyramid of the Police. However, the decision at issue challenges its position. This is a parameter that Ms. Drakou will evaluate.
Regarding the decision on 13/5/2022, the Administrative Court had vindicated eight officers. The latter had appealed against the promotions of five of their colleagues to the position of Police Officer II, during October 2016.
The judge A. Efstathiou Nikoletopoulou, who had issued the decision in favour of the applicants, in her verdict also referred to the prehistory of the disputed issue. She noted that in November 2011, promotions to the same positions of senior officers had also been "dropped" by the courts. Within five years, that is, in both cases, when different persons were in the position of chief of police and minister of justice, the promotions were declared invalid.
The eight officers who then appealed to the Administrative Court and were vindicated are N. Theodorou, G. Chininos, A. Antoniou, S. Spyrou, M. Katsounotos, G. Georgiou, S. Potamaris and K. Theodorou. They had challenged the legality of the decision of their superiors in October 2016 to promote retroactively (from 8/11/2011) to the position of Police Officer B', Nikolaos, Christodoulou, Papadimitriou, Mavrommatis and Christofides.
The court noted in its decision that double standards had been observed. It was explained that in cases of candidates lagging behind in seniority, the political head highlighted their qualifications as the decisive criterion for their selection, while "where candidates excelled in qualifications, the seniority of those who were ultimately promoted was the decisive criterion for their selection".
Binding nature of decisions
However, the binding nature of the decisions of the Administrative Court is a real issue, which already seems to have preoccupied the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Stefi Drakou.
As is well known, it has been found that there is a failure to comply with a number of court decisions.
In fact, vindicated people accuse the competent authorities of "reluctance".
It should be noted, of course, that a relevant bill has already been drafted in order to respect the court decisions, while information indicates that additional actions are being taken by the ministry.
The gap and the process
A gap with the four positions of assistant chiefs of Police arose from the beginning of the year (16/2) when deputy chief of police Hr. Mavris and the then assistant leader Dimitris Demetriou was promoted to his place. This was followed by the retirements of the assistant chiefs P. Antoniou (May) and G. Fragkos (22/07). There is now one left (Christopher Mavrommatis). The decision on the promotions of assistant chiefs is made by the respective Minister of Justice. Under the regulations, an assistant chief of police will propose the candidates for senior police officers to a three-member committee consisting of the deputy chief of police, D. Demetriou and two officers of the Legal Service. The committee will prepare a report and submit it to the Chief of Police. The latter in turn will forward it along with suggestions to the Minister, who will have the final say.
