In Paralimni, a week-long exercise involving teams from the Police of the Republic of Cyprus and the British Bases was completed.
In a statement from the British Bases (BB), it is stated that "last month, the specialist team of BB Police negotiators completed a joint training exercise together with the Special Forces team of the Republic of Cyprus Police which lasted for a week".
"The annual training under the guidance of the Police of the Republic, in which the team of negotiators of the Police of the Bases took part for the 4th consecutive year, aimed to test multiple elements within the Special Forces - MMAD of Cyprus", it is noted.
It added that "the training culminated in a large-scale exercise in Paralimni and used a range of specialist teams to deal with a simulated bank robbery, an attack on a university block of flats and a hostage situation".
British Bases Police Chief Constable Chris Eyre said his team's involvement was beneficial for a number of reasons and explained that "as a police force, we feel privileged to work with the Republic of Cyprus Police to train our members in some of the more complex areas of policing. This type of exercise, alongside the Republic Police, ensures that our skills are up to date, but also prepares us to work better together in the event of any real hostage situation."
Senior Constable Maria Atalioti, who headed the negotiating team, said that "the exercise was extremely valuable for both forces. We currently have a team of three qualified negotiators and the Republic of Cyprus has a team of 37 negotiators."
He added that "over the last four years we have established a very close partnership with the Hostage Negotiating Team and our aim is to strengthen our hostage negotiation capabilities in an effort to make Cyprus safer for all".
Source: KYPE