Filenews 11 July 2024
No citizen's call to the Police will result in a missed phone as happened recently with the femicide in Paphos, based on the reorganisation plan of the Corps.
According to the guidance given by British experts, a single call center is being prepared and will operate in early 2025 at the Police Headquarters, where all calls to the Police will end up nationwide. As explained to "F", when a person wants to make a complaint, or report a fact, then they will be able to call a single number.
The call center where all calls will end up will be staffed by police officers who will have received special training to evaluate the calls and will immediately be forwarded to the respective offices to deal with police officers of the province concerned by the incident. In this way, it is estimated that no call will be lost and thus no life, since there will be experienced staff who will evaluate each information and the call will end up in the competent department.
The equipment has already been received and the new section, the C3 as British experts call it the Call Centre, will be ready to operate in early 2025. It may be housed in the offices where the National Guard Headquarters operated, rather than the Police Headquarters.
It is noted that many times the Police found themselves in the eye of the storm because from incorrect assessments critical phone calls made to police stations were not properly evaluated, resulting in the loss of lives. A recent example in Paphos, where a citizen called four times to report an incident of domestic violence, was connected to the competent office and no one answered, resulting in the incident ending in femicide. Eight members of the Pafos police are being investigated for the case.
It is noted that all phones and conversations will be recorded so that no one can make claims that cannot be substantiated or verified.
In the meantime, the "Elpis" application for immediate response and assistance to victims of domestic violence is expected to be fully operational in early 2025, Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis said yesterday. As he said, a vulnerable person will be able to fill in a form that will be evaluated by specially trained staff and if it is judged that he may be in danger, then he will be given a code to download the special application on his mobile. In case of violence, then at the touch of a button by the victim, in a split second the signal will be transferred to Cyta and from there directly to the competent police department.
Already, according to information provided by "F", the "Elpis" application and the cases that will request assistance through the appropriate button will be handled by the members of the Subdirectorate for the Management of Cases of Vulnerable Persons.
