Filenews 6 January 2026 - by Fanis Makridis
The issue of the new working hours of more than 1,000 members of the Police, which has been implemented since January 1 and was a point of friction between the Chief of Police, Themistos Arnaoutis and the corporatist bodies of the Force, is still being processed.
A confidential note from the leadership of the Cyprus Police to the heads of the competent departments of the Corps reveals that the new hours will not fully apply to all members of the force who worked with a 12X36 shift system and now work 11 hours.
This instruction was given orally last Friday and was sent yesterday in writing by the head of the Human Resources Directorate, Ioannis Chimonas, to all district police directors and the commanders of the affected units.
In this internal note, which is on behalf of the Chief of Police, the supervisors are asked for a list of all the police officers who work from 1/1/26 for 11 hours instead of 12.
In addition, these officers are asked to submit a list of the members of the Force, who will be subject to a working regime of office hours, that is, they will work from 07:00 in the morning until 14:30.
The confidential note states, among other things: "Following the leader's instruction to change the working hours from 12X36 to 11X36 and reduce the days from 19.5 to 4.7 to transmit the table of affected members and where the specific schedule is not fully justified for any member, to submit a proposal by you to include in the office hours. In case your members work with the specific working hours of 11X36 as an exception from the other members of the same sector, there should be a full justification or if there is no justification to make a proposal and therefore submit a proposal to include them in the office hours".
It is recalled that at a press conference held on 30/12 by the Chief of Police, Themistos Arnaoutis, to announce the plan for the modernization and reorganization of the Force, he also revealed his decision to apply the new hours with the new year.
Based on the plan analyzed, the more than 1,000 police officers who worked with a 12X36 shift system will work 11 instead of 12 hours. In this way, each of those affected gains an hour of rest, as the chief said, but will have 15 days (rest days) less in the year. In this way, the chief, based on what he said, ensure more police officers for policing and prevention tasks.
From the first moment, the police unions, the Cyprus Police Association and "EQUALITY", expressed their opposition to the measure. They pointed out that they lose rest days and an amount of €1,000 per year. The Minister of Justice, Kostas Fytiris, last Friday (2/1) had a meeting with the trade unionists, while in his statements that followed, he stated that he fully supports the leadership of the Police.
In fact, he indirectly but clearly warned the president of the Police Branch of "EQUALITY" about the way he reacted after the announcement of the chief's decision. He repeatedly spoke of "consequences" in cases where "someone deviates from the rules". A day later, the presidency of "Equality" reacted with an announcement expressing dissatisfaction with the minister's style during his controversial positions.
Both trade union organizations, however, have made it clear how they will proceed with their announced measures, showing themselves willing to exhaust all trade union means to overturn the negative data for their members.
