Justice Minister Costas Fytiris' intention to reduce or even abolish police security details for current and former officials is drawing opposition.
According to information obtained by Politis, some of those who could be affected, unwilling to lose their police officer-driver-personal assistant, are trying by every means to prevent reductions or the complete withdrawal of their security details.
Fytiris' proposal on police protection is expected to be submitted for approval at the next Cabinet meeting, expected before the end of the month. While the minister's intention to cut security details is clear, the final decision will rest with the Council of Ministers.
No calls to Fytiris
Notably, none of those potentially affected has dared contact the justice minister directly.
Fytiris recently revealed his intentions, beginning with his own police protection arrangements.
He asked the Chief of Police to examine whether the 24-hour guard stationed at his residence could be fully or partly replaced by a closed-circuit surveillance system.
Other serving state officials also receive static protection at their homes, and the ongoing review includes measures to strengthen residential security so that officers currently assigned to guarding homes can be redeployed to operational duties.
What appears to have alarmed current and former officials were recent reports suggesting that Fytiris intends to recommend the withdrawal of police protection from a number of serving and former officials, as well as former first ladies.
Those reports were not denied by the Justice Ministry.
If the recommendations are ultimately adopted, the Christodoulides administration would become the first government in the history of the Republic to reduce or abolish police protection for former Presidents of the Republic and former Speakers of the House.
The question remains: will it go that far?
The decisions to be made
The Cabinet of President Nikos Christodoulides will decide, regardless of Fytiris' recommendations, whether:
- The police protection detail of former President Nicos Anastasiades will be reduced through the installation of security cameras at his residence in Limassol. Anastasiades currently has 12 police officers assigned to his protection.
- The police protection details of former House presidents Yiannakis Omirou, Marios Garoyian and Demetris Syllouris will be reduced or abolished. Each currently has three police officers.
- The police protection detail of the serving Archbishop will be reduced or abolished. The Archbishop currently has two police officers assigned to him. Why the Archbishop requires police protection, and from whom he is at risk, are questions that only the police Security Committee can answer.
- The police protection details of former first ladies Elsa Christofia and Androulla Vassiliou will be abolished. Each currently has a police officer-driver. Photini Papadopoulou gave up her police protection in 2011.
Party leaders' security details
The police protection detail of House President and DISY leader Annita Demetriou is not expected to be affected, having recently been increased following threats against her.
Her detail was expanded by five officers, bringing the total to 10, of whom five are assigned escort duties and the remainder provide round-the-clock protection at her residence.
AKEL Secretary-General Stefanos Stefanou is assigned four police officers, DIKO President Nicolas Papadopoulos has three, while ELAM President Christos Christou has two.
The three officers assigned to former EDEK president Nicos Anastasiou will be reassigned, as the party is no longer represented in parliament.
Michaelides and Panayiotou
Police protection is expected to be granted to the leaders of the two new parliamentary parties, ALMA and Cyprus Direct Democracy, namely Odysseas Michaelides and Fidias Panayiotou.
Panayiotou will have a police officer-driver only on the days when he is in Cyprus.
Audit Office intervention
In November 2023, the Audit Office, then headed by Odysseas Michaelides, published a report on the police force calling for strict instructions to be issued to officers assigned to politicians and officials.
The report urged officers not to tolerate abuses such as:
- Driving politicians' or officials' children to schools or private lessons.
- Carrying out tasks unrelated to their duties, including supermarket shopping.
The Audit Office stated that assigning officers tasked with protecting public figures to non-official duties "constitutes an abuse of authority" and that any instructions given by officials for such tasks are unlawful.
It also stressed that police officers should not comply with such instructions and that those who do would bear responsibility themselves.
Those who want drivers and guards should pay for them
Protecting individuals who face genuine threats is non-negotiable.
When there is credible intelligence or objective evidence that a politician or official, serving or former, is at risk, the state has an obligation to provide the necessary protection without compromise.
Equally non-negotiable, however, is the public's right to know that police resources are being used rationally.
Security protection cannot be a status symbol, nor a privilege attached to public office.
It is a security measure for those who genuinely face danger.
The Christodoulides administration now has an opportunity to end a practice that, over decades, evolved from a security measure into a privilege for a select few.
If some individuals want personal drivers, escorts or assistants in their daily lives, they have every right to hire them with their own money.
It should not be the responsibility of the state and taxpayers to fund personal conveniences for politicians and current or former officials.
