The state has not managed to find a way for 297 contract special police officers to remain on the force, the House legal committee heard on Wednesday, with MPs voicing disappointment over the stance of the government.

The MPs said they would not drop the matter and would reconvene in the presence of the justice minister, the chief of police and the deputy migration minister, to find a way for the police officers, hired to patrol the demarcation line for illegal immigrants, to keep their jobs.    

Speaking after the meeting, deputy chairwoman of the committee, Disy MP Fotini Tsiridou said this was the fourth time the MPs had discuss the matter.

“The fact that the ministry is dismissing […] a total of 297 contract special police officers, who over the past years, the past months, had acquired experience and had been trained and were very valuable for the safety of the country, is unacceptable,” she said.

Despite pleas and pressure, the justice ministry was maintaining a “rigid stance” and had not found a solution to “utilise the experience of those people”, Tsiridou pointed out.

“We will not cease to insist,” she assured and reminded that the contract officers were hired to patrol the ceasefire line and now new positions were being announced, “disregarding the experience these people have accumulated”.

Akel MP Andreas Pasiourtides said the 297 contract police officers should not be made to leave the force and it was not enough that they were eligible to apply for the new positions.

Elam MP Sotiris Ioannou, who tabled the issue, expressed his disappointment over the justice ministry’s stance.

Ioannou pointed out that the people in question had been trained over a period of three years in addressing illegal immigration and suggestions on how they could stay on the force had stumbled on the “lack of the necessary political will”.

Dipa MP Alekos Tryfonidis said the contract police officers had decisively contributed to addressing illegal immigration, often risking their own lives.

“We have ben told that they have sat police officer and special police officer exams and that only 76 out of the 300 have passed and some more may pass wit the special police officer exams,” Tryfonidis said.

He also pointed out that the state had paid a private company €35 million in three years to guard Pournara reception centre and Limnes centre.

“Our proposal is that those 300 contract officers of those who did not pass the police exams could stay and be sent to guard” the demarcation line,” Tryfonidis said.

Isotita trade union representative Nikos Loizides told the committee that since 2022, when the contract officers were hired, the trade union had submitted proposals for the renewal of their contracts in a legitimate way.

“The only way for them to be hired now is to be given credits” on their results, he added.

Loizides also commented on the police summoning journalists to testify in an ongoing investigation, saying that this had also happened in the past regarding his own case.

“The journalists only have to say that the did the show that day. There is no need for all this fuss. It had happened in my case too, with over eight journalists testifying,” he said.

Remarks by Loizides that had annoyed the police leadership included that the police force was at a deadlock regarding its operation and reorganisation.

The indictment referred to inappropriate and damaging remarks, which discredited the police force. Loizides’ statements were made over a period of nine months, from November 2023 to August 2024.

Disciplinary investigations began in March 2024 on instructions by the legal service and were all suspended in December.