Group members that often police officers persuade arrested persons to waive their right to counsel and that they can reach an agreement in better terms. According to the lawyers, in some cases, they were not allowed to meet with their clients immediately. Lawyers explained it as police needing that period to exert pressure and “work” the arrested persons. The Special Preventive Group has access to information about the involvement of lawyers in particular cases, namely, it is identifiable as to from which stage a lawyer got involved in the proceedings. However, the Special Preventive Group does not have access to such important data as to when did a detained person requested for a lawyer namely at what stage did a detained person requested to call a lawyer and within what time period after the request the lawyer was involved in the case. As mentioned above, it is crucial for a detained person to have access to a lawyerduring the first hours of the detention.. Unfortunately, the information regarding the use of the right to a lawyer by deteined persons is not registered in the territorial agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, we are unable to assess within the monitoring conducted as to in how many cases and when thedetained persons requested to call a lawyer and whether police officers ignored this request in violation of the statutory requirements in force. The CPT calls upon the Member States to the Council of Europe to ensure that all persons deprived of their liberty by the police, for whatever reason, be granted the right to notify a close relative or third party of their choice about their situation from the very outset of the deprivation of liberty (that is, from the moment when they are obliged to remain with the police). The exercise of this right should always be recorded in writing, with the mention of the exact time of the notification and the person who was notified. Moreover, the CPT maintains that the police should record in writing in the relevant registers whether notification of custody has been carried out in each individual case, with the indication of the exact time of notification and the identity of the person who has been contacted.138 The waiver of the right to legal assistance should be systematically signed by the detained person if he/she does not wish to exercise his/her right to access a lawyer so that any possibility of arbitrary registration of false information by police officers is excluded.139 138 Report to the Croatian Government on the visit to Croatia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 14 to 22 March 2017, para. 16, available at: https://rm.coe.int/16808e2a0e, (accessed 04.03.2019). Report to the Bulgarian Government on the visit to Bulgaria carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 25 September to 6 October 2017, para. 31, available at: https://rm.coe.int/16807c4b74, (accessed 04.03.2019). 139 Report to the Government of Cyprus on the visit to Cyprus carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 2 to 9 February 2017, para. 37, available at: https://goo.gl/EF9LCV, (accessed 04.03.2019). In this report, the CPT introduces the 54