The appointment of a new police chief is the sole responsibility of the president, Justice Minister Anna Koukkides-Procopiou said on Monday as speculation grew about a possible reshuffle at the top of the police force.
The appointment of the chief of police is done by the president of the Republic, and is a political appointment, the minister told journalists.
She was responding to questions about rumours doing the rounds regarding the possible replacement of police chief Stelios Papatheodorou – the man caught in the eye of the storm after the attacks on migrants in Chlorakas in late August and then Limassol in early September.
The question you are asking me now, would be better put to the president, Procopiou added.
Days after the rampage against migrants, the police chief was summoned to parliament where he conceded that the police could have intervened earlier.
At around the same timeframe, President Nikos Christodoulides commented that he felt ashamed by our inability to protect our citizens – a remark read as damning of the police force.
That comment also got the rumour mill churning about a change in the police leadership.
As for the justice minister herself, she appears to be off the hook – at least for now. Whereas the justice minister is the political supervisor of the police force, she has no authority to sack or appoint police officials.
Assuming Papatheodorou either resigns or is dismissed, he would be the first instance of an appointment of an official by President Christodoulides.
Papatheodorou may be pressured into stepping down, or else be ousted.
The governments silence on the matter has only served to fuel speculation. It is said the president is considering someone from outside the police force – such as an attorney – as a replacement for Papatheodorou.
However, circumventing the police hierarchy in this way would likely create ill feeling and possibly lead to resignations. Normally, the next in line for the job would be the deputy police chief or one of the four assistant chiefs.
In addition, there is the risk of appointing an outsider as police chief in that this person would need time to learn the ropes.
There have been two instances in the past where the police chief and the justice minister lost their positions at the same time. The first was in 2008, after the scandal over the escape of convicted murderer Antonis Prokopiou Kitas from a private hospital.
More recently, ex-Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou and ex-police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou both resigned in the wake of the serial killings perpetrated by Nicos Metaxas.
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