Former Chief Super takes up new role in Cyprus

Former Chief Super takes up new role in Cyprus

New Sovereign Base Area Police Chief Superintendent Jon Ward has officially completed his first week as Divisional Commander in Dhekelia and he couldn’t be happier with what he has seen so far.

The highly-decorated officer arrives in the SBAs following 30 years of service in the Merseyside Police which saw him rise through the ranks to Divisional Commander and travel all over Europe with both Liverpool and Everton Football Club as the police commander.

The 51 year old, who was sworn in on March 20, is a trained Public Order and Firearms Commander and hostage negotiator and he revealed he is looking forward to getting down to work and meeting the community he has been employed to serve.

He said: “I am really excited about working for the SBA Police in Dhekelia. Now I am here I want to get out and meet the community that we serve and I want to find out about the issues which affect those people we as a police force are here to protect.”

And despite the obvious differences between working as a police commander on Merseyside and in the SBAs, he said the overall objective of police work will always stay the same.

He explained: “The challenges are of course very different to those that I faced in Liverpool but the principles and philosophies of police work are the same the world over. I will be working with our key stakeholders within the SBA Administration and those living within the local community to keep everyone safe and secure.”

Chief Superintendent Ward follows in the footsteps of Jim Guy as Divisional Commander, who served in Dhekelia for more than 18 years and he has also received the same prestigious award as his predecessor.

“By coincidence I actually received the Queen’s Police Medal in the same New Year’s Honours List as Chief Superintendent Guy in 2015. To receive such an award from the Queen for my police service on Merseyside was obviously a great honour and I am looking forward to continuing my police work here within the SBAs.”

The Divisional Commander is posted to the Eastern SBAs for the next four years and he has heard nothing but praise for his officers since he arrived.

“I have had a good handover period and I have been told a lot about my officers here and it has all been good,” he said.

“They face some very difficult challenges in their police work but from what I have seen and heard, they do it with a great deal of professionalism,” he concluded.

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