The new Chief of Police, Themistos Arnaoutis, and the new Deputy Chief of Police, Panikos Stavrou were sworn in on Monday. Speaking at the ceremony, President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides asked the new leadership he appointed after he fired the previous Chief and Deputy Chief over the escape of a convict who serves a life sentence for murder, for fewer statements and more actions, in order to enhance the feeling of safety in the society. 

The new leadership of the Police was sworn in during a ceremony that took place on Monday afternoon at the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia, in the presence of the Attorney General, George Savvides, the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Marios Hartsiotis and the Government Spokesperson, Konstantinos Letymbiotis.

President Christodoulides stressed that "the Cypriot society rightfully, requires that we increase its feeling of safety,’’ asking the new leadership of the Police to work "with as few statements as possible and more actions, in order to enhance society's feeling of safety".

He also requested that special emphasis be placed on dealing with drugs, crime and hooliganism, indicating that "no form of hooliganism can be accepted".

Furthermore, he expressed the wish "in collaboration with the Law Office of the Republic, as provided for by the Constitution, to run the investigative work even faster in relation to any phenomena of corruption, whoever they concern".

"The role of the Police today is multi-faceted, it also deals with terrorism, taking into account our proximity to a region with many challenges", the President noted. Referring to the issue of immigration, he pointed out that "in these 19 months important work has been done and our efforts should be strengthened even more".

He went on to say that "any possible phenomena of corruption should be dealt with immediately.’’

"Both I and the Minister of Justice and the entire Cabinet will be by your side to respond to everything the society expects from us," he concluded.

On his part, the new Chief of Police, Themistos Arnaoutis, acknowledged that the citizens do not have the feeling of security that they should.

Referring to crime, the new Chief of Police pointed out that corruption, serious organized crime and violence in sports "are the issues we have to look at first."

The new Deputy Chief of Police, Panikos Stavrou, assured President Christodoulides that "we will give our best to cope with our new tasks, so that we can raise the morale of our members and at the same time the feeling of safety of the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus".

In his statements after the ceremony, the new Chief of Police, Themistos Arnaoutis, said - inter alia - that his focus “will be on raising the morale of the members of the Police and on restoring the feeling of safety and trust of the citizens towards the Police."

"Cyprus is a European country, it deserves a European Police and this is my goal. My vision is to make the Cyprus Police one of the best European police forces", he underlined, adding that "in order to do this, there should be an effective response mainly to the issues of corruption, serious and organized crime and violence in sports."