Formed 15 August, 1960 Size 250 km² Founded 15 August 1960 Parent agency Ministry of Defence | National agency
(Operations jurisdiction) SBA Population 14,000 Number of employees 253 Stations 3 | |
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Common name Sovereign Base Areas Police Legal personality Governmental: Government agency | ||
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. Established in August 1960, the force has responsibility for all 15,000 residents of the SBAs, including military personnel. However, for any offences military or civilian committed by service personnel or their dependants anywhere in Cyprus authority lies with the Cyprus Joint Police Unit, (unless within the SBA, and SBA Police take primacy) which is a military police unit made up of members of the Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police, who operate throughout the whole of Cyprus, including the Republic of Cyprus,
The SBA Police consists of a total of 241 officers and 12 civilian employees. There are four British senior officers, with the remainder recruited from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. In addition to its regular policing duties, the SBA Police has responsibility for the operation of Dhekelia Prison.
Although the SBA Police is administered by the Ministry of Defence, it is a separate force from the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP).