New 32 police officers ready to serve

A total of 32 new recruits have now completed their first week as SBA Police constables after they took their official oath in Dhekelia last week.

The officers, a mixture of both Greek and Turkish Cypriot, now begin an intensive two-year probationary period where they will be trained in every aspect of law enforcement.

According to a press statement from SBA, the swearing in ceremony marked the largest-ever single intake of new officers to the SBA Police, bucking the trend of dividing recruits into separate groups, with training commencing months apart. Dhekelia Division’s Chief Inspector Marcos Petrou said: “By recruiting 32 new officers the SBA Police are now at full strength. We have lost officers in recent years through retirement but we have now been able to replace them and look ahead to our future, this is great news”.

New recruit Christos Yerimos from Dherynia, said he was looking forward to the challenge ahead, he explained: “There is a lot of excitement to becoming a police officer but I know it is going to be challenging.

Turkish Cypriot, Gul Akgouchlou who lives in Famagusta, was equally enthusiastic, she said: “I am very excited to meet all of these new people. I am really looking forward to starting the job after almost one year of going through the recruitment process.”