Sovereign Base Areas Police

{{Short description|Civilian police force of the Sovereign Base Areas}}

{{Infobox law enforcement agency

| agencyname = Sovereign Base Areas Police

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| commonname = Sovereign Base Areas Police

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| patch = File:SBA_police_patch.jpg

| patchcaption = SBA Police patch with badge

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| flag = File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg

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| formedyear = 15 August 1960

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| employees = 253

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| country = Sovereign Base Areas

| countryabbr = SBA

| national = Yes

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| map = SovereignBaseAreasPolice.PNG

| mapcaption = Map of the Sovereign Base Areas Police's jurisdiction.

| sizearea = 250 km²

| sizepopulation = 14,000

| legaljuris = opsjuris

| governingbody = Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

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| police = Yes

| local =

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| headquarters = Sovereign Base Areas Police HQ, British Forces Episkopi

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| sworntype = Police officer

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| electeetype = Military appointment

| minister1name = Air Vice Marshal Peter J.M. Squires OBE MA BEng (Hons)

| minister1pfo = Administrator, Sovereign Base Areas

| chief1name = Mick Matthews

| chief1position = Chief Constable

| parentagency = Ministry of Defence

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| stationtype = Station

| stations = {{collapsible list |title=3 |Episkopi Police Station|Dhekelia Police Station|Ay Nicolaos Police Station}}

| airbases =

| lockuptype = Prison

| lockups = His Majesty's Prison, Dhekelia

| vehicle1type = Patrol car

| vehicles1 = Yes

| vehicle2type = Armed response vehicle

| vehicles2 = Yes

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The Sovereign Base Areas Police is the local civilian police force for the British controlled Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus.

Organisation

Established in August 1960, the force has responsibility for all 15,000 residents of the SBAs, including military personnel.

The Cyprus Joint Police Unit (the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and RAF Police), has concurrent jurisdiction over all offences committed by service personnel and UK dependents/employees within the SBAs, garrisons, and stations, and other retained military sites outside the SBAs.

Both work in full cooperation with each other and any jurisdiction issues are managed through an agreed memorandum of understanding.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sbaadministration.org/index.php/police|title=Sovereign Base Areas – Police|website=www.sbaadministration.org|language=en-gb|access-date=10 November 2018|archive-date=20 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120171408/https://sbaadministration.org/index.php/police|url-status=dead}}

=Numbers=

The SBA Police consists of a total of 241 officers and 12 civilian employees.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

There are British senior officers, with the remainder recruited from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.{{Cite web |date=2020-05-07 |title=SBA Police Recruits Swear To Serve And Protect |url=https://www.forces.net/operations/cyprus/sba-police-recruits-swear-serve-and-protect |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Forces Network |language=en}}

In addition to its regular policing duties, the SBA Police has responsibility for the operation of HMP Dhekelia (the SBA Prison).

Affiliation

Although the SBA Police is administered by the Ministry of Defence,{{Cite web| title=Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) | date=2017-02-09 | url=https://rm.coe.int/pdf/168076e130 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126014303/https://rm.coe.int/pdf/168076e130 | archive-date=2020-11-26}} it is a separate force from the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP).{{Cite web |title=UCLan Cyprus signs innovative policing partnership |url=https://www.uclan.ac.uk/news/uclan-cyprus-signs-innovative-policing-partnership |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=University of Central Lancashire |language=en}}