Police officers are using their police vehicles to visit their homes, according to an investigation by the auditor general’s office.
A number of police vehicles have been fitted with tracking devices to monitor whether use is in line with regulations.
The AG’s office checked a random 10 cars over 109 days and found a total of 212 instances in which the patrol cars were parked at the same address as those of police officers.
In one case, a police vehicle was recorded to have violated the regulations 80 times.
In 15 cases, the cars were parked outside addresses of members of the police force for more than on hour.
In one case, a police vehicle was parked outside the home of a specific police officer for five hours and 46 minutes.
In another instance, a police vehicle had been driven to the home of a member of the force 18 times between September 1 and October 10, 2018.
The report adds that in one other case, in September 2019, two uniformed officers had parked at a cafe in Protaras and then spent one hour at the cafe. Both were on duty. A check showed they had not entered the reason they had gone to Protaras, having left from Larnaca Airport at 8.30 am. They were back at their base at 1pm. Given that it was parked at the cafe for one hour and the time required to go and come to Protaras, the AG’s office queried why it had even gone in the first place.
