- 18 According to Law 4058/2012, the Office should be headed by a decision-making threemember Committee composed of an honorary judicial officer, one member of the Office of the Legal Counsel of State and one honorary prosecutor. The members will be appointed by the Minister of Citizen Protection. The Committee will be assisted by supporting staff, seconded from the judiciary and the four services under its mandate. However, at the time of the 2013 visit the Office was still not functioning; no staff had been seconded to the Office and the three-member Committee had not been appointed as there had apparently been a lack of interest among qualified candidates. 23. The CPT considers that the current delay in establishing the Office on Arbitrary Incidents represents an opportunity to review its mandate and intended modus operandi. To begin with, it would be far preferable for the Office to be completely independent of the Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection. Further, the Office ought to be mandated to monitor the quality of the investigation of a complaint that it refers back to the Hellenic Police to ensure that it is properly carried out and, in more serious cases, the Office itself should undertake the investigation of the complaint. This will require the Office to have a qualified team of investigators, perhaps headed by one or more prosecutors, as well as the necessary financial resources to function effectively. If the authorities are to get to grips with the issue of police ill-treatment, there is a need to establish a robust body which is, and is perceived to be, independent and impartial and is equipped to carry out investigations into alleged ill-treatment promptly and thoroughly. The CPT recommends that the Greek authorities review the mandate and modus operandi of the Office on Arbitrary Incidents, in the light of the above remarks, in order to ensure its independence and to strengthen its investigative and oversight capabilities. Further, the CPT would like to receive confirmation that non-Greek citizens are included in the scope of the Office’s mandate. 24. More generally, the information gathered in the course of the 2013 visit highlights the necessity for determined action by the authorities to address the issue of ill-treatment by the police. No one must be left in any doubt about the commitment of the State authorities to combating this phenomenon. This will underpin the action being taken at all other levels. There should periodically be an instruction from the Chief of Police explicitly reminding police officers that infringements of the law will result in criminal and disciplinary sanctions. This message of zero tolerance of illtreatment of detained persons should be backed up at the appropriate political level (e.g. the Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection). The CPT recommends that the Greek authorities strenuously reiterate the message of zero tolerance of ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty and reinforce it with a statement at the appropriate political level.