Cretan Gendarmerie - The Police in Crete Before Autonomy

The Police in Crete Before Autonomy

During the second half of the 19th century the Christian Cretans revolted almost every decade against Ottoman rule. In 1878, in an agreement known as the Pact of Halepa, the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, agreed that in future Crete be would policed by native-born Cretans, Christian and Muslim. It was agreed that a new body of Gendarmerie would be formed and recruited only from Cretans.

In 1889, however, there was a breakdown of law and order on the island which gave the Sultan the chance to land large numbers of troops on the island and to ignore the undertakings contained in the Pact of Halepa, although he never formally renounced it. The Sultan appointed Colonel Tahsin as chief of police in Crete at the head of a body of two hundred men recruited in Macedonia. In 1896, law and order again broke down in Crete and a final Christian insurrection against Ottoman rule took place. Under pressure from foreign powers, Abdul Hamid agreed to the creation of a body of one hundred Montenegrin constables under the command of the British Major Bor. These men remained on the island until February 1899 and were generally regarded as an effective force, although their numbers were not proportionate to the problems of the island. In 1898, the Muslim population of Heraklion, who had been enduring intolerable conditions for nearly two years, revolted against the British force there and killed eighteen British soldiers and several hundred Cretan Christians. This led directly to the end of Ottoman rule on the island as Britain and other Great Powers tried to force the Turkish authorities to withdraw from the island by the middle of November 1898. Prince George of Greece, the second son of the King of Greece, arrived on 21 December 1898 as High Commissioner appointed by the Great Powers to rule Crete, which was now de facto autonomous, although under Ottoman suzerainty. The Prince replaced one of the earliest examples of international rule in European history. After the collapse of Ottoman rule in much of the island in February 1897, a committee of admirals of four of the Great Powers (Britain, France, Russia, and Italy) had run the coastal sections and immediate hinterland of the island. The British administered the prefecture of Heraklion, the Russians the prefecture of Rethymno, the French the prefecture of Lasithi and Sitia, and the Italians the prefectures of Chania and Sfakia.

The public safety situation on the island was far from ideal. Normal law and order had disappeared with the collapse of Ottoman administration and almost all adult males were armed, and apart from the national problems there were also personal feuds and endemic problems, such as cattle stealing and vendettas. Many people abandoned the countryside and flocked to the cities for protection. The foreign governors were forced to organize units of gendarmerie from Cretans to supplement their own police and military forces, and a separate force was formed in each prefecture. Naturally, the organization and system of operation of every one of these units was different and reflected the national origins of the governor. As a result, Crete was policed by four independent units of Gendarmerie, which were organised on completely different models.